Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Jathan Sadowski is a senior research fellow in the Emerging Technologies Research Lab and an associate investigator for the Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making in Society, both at Monash University. He is currently working on a DECRA fellowship from the Australian Research Council for a three-year project (2022-2025) researching the formation, applications, and implications of the insurance technology (insurtech) sector.
Jathan's work focuses on the political economy and social impacts of digital systems that are data-driven, networked, and automated. He investigates the often hidden interests, imperatives, and ideologies that influence the design and use of these “smart” technologies. Who benefits, who’s represented? Who loses, who’s left out? Why are things made in certain ways, for certain purposes—and how can we realise alternative pathways?
Jathan's book – Too Smart: How Digital Capitalism is Extracting Data, Controlling Our Lives, and Taking Over the World (2020, The MIT Press) – analyzes how the pursuit of power and profit is being materialized through smart tech. He outlines the impacts that are already emerging as our lives, homes, and cities are made smarter. He then offer a series of tactics for how to unmake and remake technology, putting it under democratic control so that it serves truly progressive and socially beneficial purposes.
In addition to publishing research in a wide-range of academic journals, Jathan also regularly writes and speaks about the politics of technology in many major media outlets. He is the co-host of a weekly podcast on technology and political economy: This Machine Kills.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology, Doctor of Philosophy, Arizona State University
Award Date: 9 Aug 2016
Research area keywords
- smart technology
- digital technology
- automation
- data and society
- political economy
- inequality
- urban geography
- social theory
Network
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VSL Project: City of Melbourne: Visual Sensing Language
Sadowski, J., Lanzeni, D., Dahlgren, K. & Pink, S.
Melbourne City Council (City of Melbourne)
12/06/20 → 21/09/20
Project: Research
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Beyond the driverless car: a typology of forms and functions for autonomous mobility
Jones, R., Sadowski, J., Dowling, R., Worrall, S., Tomitsch, M. & Nebot, E., 2023, In: Applied Mobilities. 8, 1, p. 26-46 21 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
4 Citations (Scopus) -
Lords of the Platform: Rentier Capitalism and the Platform Economy
Sadowski, J., 2023, Platform Labour and Global Logistics: A Research Companion. Ness, I. (ed.). 1st ed. Abingdon OX UK: Taylor & Francis, p. 28-38 11 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (Book) › Research › peer-review
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Digital technology and energy imaginaries of future home life: comic-strip scenarios as a method to disrupt energy industry futures
Strengers, Y., Dahlgren, K., Pink, S., Sadowski, J. & Nicholls, L., Feb 2022, In: Energy Research and Social Science. 84, 16 p., 102366.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
17 Citations (Scopus) -
Social Issues in Automated Decision-Making: Draft Version 1.0
O'Neill, C., Sadowski, J., Andrejevic, M., Lewis, K., van toon, G., Lobato, R., Binns, D., Watson, A. & Wozniak- O'Connor, V., 18 Nov 2022, ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society. 320 p.Research output: Book/Report › Other Report › Other › peer-review
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Biopolitical platforms: the perverse virtues of digital labour
Gregory, K. & Sadowski, J., 19 Apr 2021, In: Journal of Cultural Economy. 14, 6, p. 662-674 13 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
17 Citations (Scopus)
Prizes
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Most cited article – Antipode
Sadowski, Jathan (Recipient), 2022
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Most cited article – Big Data & Society
Sadowski, Jathan (Recipient), 2022
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Most cited article – Science, Technology & Human Values
Sadowski, Jathan (Recipient), 2022
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Press/Media
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The energy costs of staying at home
Kari Dahlgren, Jathan Sadowski, Yolande Strengers, Larissa Nicholls & Sarah Pink
21/08/20
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Article/Feature