Digital Enclosures in Education and Youth Marginalization

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 2:30 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Sociotechnical Perspectives on Young People Using, Experiencing, and Making Sense of AI (Table 17)

Abstract

Young people across the globe are deeply affected by the ways technological innovations, social inequalities, and racial stratification come together in their lives, which increasingly includes Artificial Intelligence (AI) (Author, 2021; Benjamin, 2019; McMillan Cottom, 2020). In the context of youth educational experiences, these connections are often reduced to issues of restricted access and proficiency with digital technologies, commonly referred to as the digital divide. Within this discourse, educational technology is often presented as a remedy to address educational challenges and broader social inequalities, especially through bridging this digital divide (Greene, 2021; Philip & Garcia, 2013; Toyama, 2015). However, a deeper examination reveals that educational technology, including AI, increasingly forms part of predatory inclusion, perpetuating oppressive elements deeply embedded within the education system and the broader context of racial capitalism (Author, 2021; Gilmore, 2022; McMillan Cottom, 2020). The impact of AI and digital media on social inequities extends beyond mere differential access, manifesting in insidious ways within and beyond educational settings. In what has been described as the New Jim Code, the emerging situation in which racist values and assumptions are built into both technical systems and the social systems they increasingly shape, AI-driven digital technologies multiply existing inequalities and form additional mechanisms for marginalization, even while maintaining a neutral façade (Benjamin, 2019). Educational technology thus intertwines with other mechanisms of youth marginalization, such as racialized surveillance, raciolinguistic subordination, remediation, ableism, and criminalization.

The prevailing narrative of youth technological inequality, centered on the digital divide, tends to overlook the persistent influence of colonial legacies, neoliberal reforms, and racism in shaping the educational experiences of youth, in particular, the persistent anti-blackness of educational policy and practice (Coles et al., 2021). Overlooked are ways AI-driven educational technology perpetuates a long-standing history of educational enclosures, which in turn set communities up for exploitation and extraction (Gilmore, 2007; Sojoyner, 2016). Furthermore, alternative approaches that challenge Silicon Valley ideologies within educational contexts are obscured, even as these ideologies increasingly dictate and transform classroom dynamics.

This paper examines existing literature and emerging news articles, exploring two central questions:

1. How does the integration of AI-driven digital technology intersect with other mechanisms of youth marginalization?
2. What possibilities do abolitionist approaches and visions offer in this context?

The analysis concentrates on the experiences of youth within two interconnected levels of the New Jim Code's intersection with educational enclosures. First, historical inequitable educational approaches and outcomes display continuity rather than disruption in the era of AI and digital media, particularly concerning marginalized students and communities (Coles et al., 2021; Margolis, 2017; Sealey-Ruiz & Haddix, 2012; Watkins, 2018). Second, the era of AI-driven digital media and educational technology coincides with an era of accountability culture, neoliberal reforms, and a marked increase in incarceration rates, all mutually interlinked (Benjamin, 2019; Author, 2021; Greene, 2021). We close with examples of more liberatory visions of educational technology use necessary for abolitionist futures.

Authors

• Roberto de Roock, University of California - Santa Cruz

• Emanuel Suarez Jimenez, University of California - Santa Cruz