Reflexivity: an anthropological antidote to the Techlash
Following on from my last post, I believe anthropology can provide ways to avoid future Techlashes. The focus for today is on "reflexivity", a concept that gained ground in anthropology in the 70s in the works of scholars such as Paul Rabinow, James Clifford and George Marcus. Reflexivity means both:
a) considering the power dynamics at play in the act of research — ie. the inequality between researcher and subject.
b) awareness of the researcher's subjectivity — ie. not attempting to write dispassionate "objective" reports, but framing events through the researcher's eyes.
The reason why this focus on reflexivity was important in anthropology was because of the subject's roots in colonialism. Early anthropologists studied the often non-white subjects of colonial masters, and their insights helped administrators better understand — and dominate — those people. Anthropology was complicit.
Furthermore, the main research method of anthropology — "ethnography" aka living among one's research subjects — always had consequences. The act of studying a people changed that people — exposing them to new languages, technologies, cultures, through the medium of the researcher. The researcher—often representing the potential of a better life (access to tools and medicines)—was pandered to. This sometimes led to exploitation or abuse.
Like with the Startup Mindset & Techlash in my previous post, early anthropologists didn't intend these consequences. However, after many countries went through post-colonial transitions, after scandals and abuses, after contending with what they had done, the discipline made changes.
Through adopting a more reflexive approach, anthropologists carefully formulate their research questions and their research methodologies to limit the effect on their research participants. There is a far more stringent application and vetting process for new research.
It's not perfect, but we try. Big Tech can apply reflexivity in future strategy and avoid repeating past mistakes.