Volume
20
Issue
1-3
Abstract
With its bright yellow cover and its ominous title, this book attracts attention. The subtitle, “How big data increases inequality and threatens democracy” signals very strongly that the “math” in question in the title is primarily that which relates to the statistical and computational means of collecting, analysing and using data. For some readers, the title might be surprising, because it challenges the typical understanding of mathematics as an objective and value-neutral discipline. Worse, it claims that mathematics is significantly involved in creating inequality and compromising democracy. If it is true, then the answer to the perennial student question, “when am I ever going to use this?” has now become, “when will it use you?”
First Page
132
Last Page
138
Recommended Citation
Sinclair, Nathalie
(2023)
"Putting Math in its Place A Review of Cathy O’Neil’s Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy,"
The Mathematics Enthusiast: Vol. 20
:
No.
1
, Article 16.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54870/1551-3440.1598
Available at:
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/tme/vol20/iss1/16
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.54870/1551-3440.1598
Publisher
University of Montana, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library
