Technology and Equality: : Sven Ove Hansson: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Technology and Equality

Description

We live in a world of rapidly growing gaps between rich and poor. In the rich parts of the world, new resource-consuming devices are launched every year. But at the same time, about a fourth of the world’s population does not have access to clean drinking water, and more than half lack safely managed sanitation. What role does technology have in these growing global inequalities? Is technological development the root cause of inequality? Or is the unequal distribution of technology just a mirror of social inequities that have other causes? And can new technologies be instrumental in making the world less unfair?

In Technology and Equality, these issues are addressed from a wide range of perspectives by scholars in disciplines such as history, sociology, gender studies, anthropology, economics, law, ethics, and philosophy. Case studies highlight technology-related inequalities for instance in climate mitigation, public transport, access to water, waste management, sanitation, air pollution, healthcare, digital communication, and law enforcement. The more theoretical chapters provide tools and concepts that are helpful for analyzing and understanding the relationships between technology and inequality in other applications and in more general perspectives.

Preface
1. Technology and Equality: An Introduction, Sven Ove Hansson
2. Law, Public Policy, and Equality, Colleen Murphy
3. Who Decides on Technology Development?, Armin Grunwald
4. Technology and Gender Equality, Lena Wånggren
5. Disability and Technology? No, Disability As Technology., Shelley Tremain
6. Work, Technology, and Equality, Sven Ove Hansson
7. Artificial Intelligence, Equality, and the Future of Work, Sven Nyholm and Markus Rüther
8. Information Technologies and Human Rights, Giovanni Sartor
9. Agriculture, Paul B. Thompson
10. Water and Inequality, Neelke Doorn
11. Is Breathing Clean Air a Matter of Equality?, Ebba Malmqvist
12. Human reproduction, Camisha Russell
13. Technology and Inequality in the Covid-19 Pandemic, Nicole Hassoun and Anders Herlitz
About the Authors
Index

Product details

Published	Feb 05 2025
Format	Hardback
Edition	1st
Extent	256
ISBN	9781538184998
Imprint	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Illustrations	1 BW Illustration
Dimensions	9 x 6 inches
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Anthology Editor

Sven Ove Hansson

Anthology Editor

Colleen Murphy

Equality is a defining issue of our time, and technology plays a significant role in both advancing equality and amplifying inequalities. At last, we have a book that bridges these two subjects, delivering outstanding discussions across a wide range of technologies and applications.

Philip Brey, associate professor and vice chair of the department of philosophy, University of Twente
How can technological innovation help to increase equalities among people rather than deepening inequalities that already exist? This pressing question of our times is illuminatingly, engagingly, and clearly addressed by the contributors to this volume. In covering an impressive range of topics including agriculture and food systems, artificial intelligence, flood risks, health technologies, and human working conditions, Technology and Equality challenges the reader to recognize not only the extent of inequalities but also to consider novel perspectives for how they might be reduced.

Diane P. Michelfelder, professor of philosophy emerita, Macalester College