‘Rescuing’ data justice? Mobilising the collective in responses to datafication

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Dencik, Lina. 2025. ‘Rescuing’ data justice? Mobilising the collective in responses to datafication. Information, Communication & Society, ISSN 1369-118X [Article] (In Press)

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Official URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13691...

Abstract or Description

Key activities that relate to data justice have emerged from different stakeholders that seek to confront and address different implications of advancements in datafication. These activities indicate the extent to which such concerns have become mainstreamed on the one hand and the contentious and political nature of translating justice concerns into practice on the other. This article engages with this ‘politics of data justice’ by outlining different approaches to data justice and makes the case that dominant responses to datafication and its injustices privilege processes of individualisation and marketisation. In light of this, the article draws inspiration from Gerald Cohen’s notion of ‘rescuing justice’ as a way to assert an alternative vision for data justice that centres collectivity. It does so by considering two key traditions in scholarship on justice: the Marxist/socialist tradition that understands justice as critique; and the feminist tradition that understands justice as empowerment. Central to both of these traditions is an emphasis on engaging with justice within existing social relations and the structural conditions against which injustices are experienced. On this basis, the article argues that an emphasis on collectivity can be an avenue through which data justice can (re)claim more radical understandings of justice that take account of how technology is embedded in wider power dynamics and ways in which they might be challenged.

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Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2025.2465874