The SMC loves good books. And we especially love books that tackle vital societal problems in a way that’s timely but also deeply researched, that ask biting questions of institutions without turning them into straw men, that investigate technology in its real use contexts, and that complicate things that may at first appear simple. And we REALLY like books from our excellent SMC postdocs, especially when we were there to see these books become books. Latest in this illustrious group is Sarah Brayne, now an assistant professor in Sociology at UT Austin, and her book Predict and Surveil: Data, Discretion, and the Future of Policing, from Oxford UP. The book offers an ethnographic “account of how a massive law enforcement agency leverages big data technologies to expand surveillance in the name of objective, predictive policing.”

Sarah is having a virtual book launch, in conversation with Bruce Western of Columbia University, that we highly recommend. November 20, 2pm CST. You can RSVP here, and in the process, receive a 30% discount code for the book.