Automating welfare states: Data, algorithms and digital justice

This chapter engages with the process of datafication and automation of public administration in contemporary welfare states to develop a conceptual blueprint for a progressive digital agenda. It argues that there is insuffi cient attention on the Left to the digital transformation of governance, as progressive refl ection on the role of technology is predominantly focussed on the world of work and, relatedly, on the platform society and digital media. This is problematic given that the impact of digitisation of public administration on the matters of social justice is profound. To illustrate it, the chapter draws on several examples of harm generated recently by automated decision making systems. These examples point to multiple risks of the accelerating creep of digital technologies into the core functions of welfare sates including welfare, education, and migration. The chapter then reviews two dominant approaches to the challenge of automation in government, articulated through the notions of digital justice and algorithmic accountability. It argues that digital governance in welfare states is a matter of distributive justice rather than procedural justice, and that the Left should adopt a systemic approach to digitisation of public administration as a core programmatic concern.