Kritische theorie en de toeslagenaffaire: een oplossing voor geautomatiseerde discriminatie?

Abstract

The benefits scandal caused a great deal of commotion in 2018 and ultimately led to the fall of the Rutte III cabinet. At the heart of this scandal was the use of a discriminatory algorithm by the Tax and Customs Administration to check applications for childcare benefits. This discriminatory algorithm claimed many victims, with low-income families and those with a migrant background being particularly hard hit. Although more and more journalistic research is being conducted into how the Tax and Customs Administration assesses applications for benefits, insufficient attention is always paid to the role that technology plays in this process. Yet it was precisely the automation of discriminatory selections that was a major problem in the benefits scandal. This article examines whether the problem of automated discrimination can be better understood on the basis of the critical theory of the American philosopher of technology Andrew Feenberg. It also examines whether this theory offers any tools for solving this problem.