Steve Sawyer

This critical anthology introduces some of the major social controversies surrounding the computerization of society and highlights some of the key value conflicts and social choices such computerization entails. A primary purpose in bringing the various articles together is to help readers recognize the social processes that drive and shape computerization--and to help them understand the resulting paradoxes and ironies. This approach differs from the typical efforts of authors to provide one authoritative highly integrated account. My own viewpoint is reflected in the choice of issues to emphasize and articles that examine them. I wrote a lead article for each part of the book that provides an integrated overview and places each article in content within the debates. These lead articles also identify the ways that specific other selections, that appear within other parts of the book, also contribute to the debates at hand.