{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,18]],"date-time":"2026-06-18T00:44:20Z","timestamp":1781743460004,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,1]],"date-time":"2019-01-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1546300800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Big Data &amp; Society"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2019,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>In recent years, many qualitative sociologists, anthropologists, and social theorists have critiqued the use of algorithms and other automated processes involved in data science on both epistemological and political grounds. Yet, it has proven difficult to bring these important insights into the practice of data science itself. We suggest that part of this problem has to do with under-examined or unacknowledged assumptions about the relationship between the two fields\u2014ideas about how data science and its critics can and should relate. Inspired by recent work in Science and Technology Studies on interventions, we attempted to stage an encounter in which practicing data scientists were asked to analyze a corpus of critical social science literature about their work, using tools of textual analysis such as co-word and topic modelling. The idea was to provoke discussion both about the content of these texts and the possible limits of such analyses. In this commentary, we reflect on the planning stages of the experiment and how responses to the exercise, from both data scientists and qualitative social scientists, revealed some of the tensions and interactions between the normative positions of the different fields. We argue for further studies which can help us understand what these interdisciplinary tensions turn on\u2014which do not paper over them but also do not take them as given.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/2053951719833404","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,3,11]],"date-time":"2019-03-11T08:08:06Z","timestamp":1552291686000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":48,"title":["\u201cYou Social Scientists Love Mind Games\u201d: Experimenting in the \u201cdivide\u201d between data science and critical algorithm studies"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"6","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9622-9915","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"David","family":"Moats","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"TEMA T, Link\u00f6ping University, Link\u00f6ping, Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3913-1134","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nick","family":"Seaver","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anthropology, Tufts University, Medford, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,3,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/9780822374480"},{"key":"bibr2-2053951719833404","first-page":"993","volume":"3","author":"Blei DM","year":"2003","journal-title":"Journal of Machine Learning research"},{"key":"bibr5-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/1369118X.2012.678878"},{"key":"bibr6-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/2053951715622512"},{"key":"bibr7-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-954X.1984.tb00113.x"},{"key":"bibr8-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Callon M, Law J and Rip A (eds) (1986)\n                      Mapping the Dynamics of Science and Technology\n                      . London: Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-349-07408-2"},{"key":"bibr9-2053951719833404","volume-title":"Market Devices","author":"Callon M","year":"2007"},{"key":"bibr11-2053951719833404","first-page":"421","volume-title":"The Content Analysis Reader","author":"Danowski JA","year":"2009"},{"key":"bibr12-2053951719833404","unstructured":"Downey GL and Zuiderent-Jerak T (2016) Making and doing: Engagement and reflexive learning in STS. In: Felt U, Fouch\u00e9 R, Miller CA and Smith-Doerr L (eds)\n                      The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies.\n                      Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 223\u2013252."},{"key":"bibr48-2053951719833404","unstructured":"Garfinkel H (1963)\n                      Studies in Ethnomethodology.\n                      Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers Inc."},{"key":"bibr13-2053951719833404","unstructured":"Garfinkel H (2011) A conception of and experiments with \u201ctrust\u201d as a condition of concerted stable actions. In: O\u2019Brien J (ed.)\n                      The Production of Reality: Essays on Social Interaction\n                      , 5th edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge, pp.379\u2013391."},{"key":"bibr14-2053951719833404","volume-title":"Cultural Boundaries of Science: Credibility on the Line","author":"Gieryn TF","year":"1999"},{"key":"bibr15-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/9302.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr16-2053951719833404","unstructured":"Hall S, Hobson D, Lowe A, et\u00a0al. (1980) Encoding\/decoding. In: Hall S (ed.)\n                      Culture, Media, Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies, 1972\u201379\n                      . New edition. London: Routledge, pp.117\u2013127."},{"key":"bibr17-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/2053951716674238"},{"key":"bibr18-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0162243915578486"},{"key":"bibr19-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4135\/9781473909472"},{"key":"bibr21-2053951719833404","volume-title":"Actor Network Theory and After","author":"Law J","year":"1999"},{"key":"bibr45-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lazer D, Pentland AS, Adamic L, et al. (2009) Life in the network: the coming age of computational social science.\n                      Science\n                      323(5915): 721.","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1167742"},{"key":"bibr22-2053951719833404","unstructured":"Lipton C and Steinhardt J (2018) Troubling trends in machine learning scholarship. Paper presented at ICML 2018: The Debates, Stockholm 27 July 2018."},{"key":"bibr23-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/02632760022051202"},{"key":"bibr25-2053951719833404","volume-title":"Para-sites: A Casebook Against Cynical Reason","author":"Marcus GE","year":"2000"},{"key":"bibr26-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/17530350.2013.772070"},{"key":"bibr50-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mol A (2002)\n                      The Body Multiple: Ontology in Medical Practice.\n                      Durham, NC: Duke University Press.","DOI":"10.1215\/9780822384151"},{"key":"bibr51-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Munk AK, Tommaso V and Meunier A (2019) Data Sprints: A Collaborative Format in Digital Controversy Mapping. In:\n                      Digital Sts Handbook.\n                      Princeton University Press.","DOI":"10.2307\/j.ctvc77mp9.34"},{"key":"bibr27-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1089\/big.2016.0050"},{"key":"bibr28-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.18574\/nyu\/9781479833641.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr29-2053951719833404","volume-title":"Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy","author":"O\u2019Neil C","year":"2016"},{"key":"bibr30-2053951719833404","unstructured":"O\u2019Neil C (2017) The ivory tower can\u2019t keep ignoring tech.\n                      New York Times\n                      , 14 November. Available at: www.nytimes.com\/2017\/11\/14\/opinion\/academia-tech-algorithms.html (accessed 5 June 2018)."},{"key":"bibr31-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-4446.1999.00367.x"},{"key":"bibr32-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4159\/harvard.9780674736061"},{"key":"bibr49-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rabinow P, Marcus GE, Faubion JD, et al. (2008)\n                      Designs for an Anthropology of the Contemporary.\n                      Durham, NC: Duke University Press.","DOI":"10.1215\/9780822390060"},{"key":"bibr33-2053951719833404","unstructured":"Ruppert E, Harvey P, Lury C, et\u00a0al. (2015) Socialising big data: From concept to practice.\n                      CRESC Working Paper Series\n                      (138). Available at: http:\/\/research.gold.ac.uk\/11614\/ (accessed 24 November 2016)."},{"key":"bibr35-2053951719833404","volume-title":"Doing Data Science: Straight Talk from the Frontline","author":"Schutt R","year":"2013"},{"key":"bibr47-2053951719833404","unstructured":"Seaver N (2015) Bastard Algebra. In: Maurer B and Boellstorff T (eds)\n                      Data, Now Bigger and Better!\n                      Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press, pp. 27\u201345."},{"key":"bibr36-2053951719833404","volume-title":"The Invention of Modern Science","author":"Stengers I","year":"2000"},{"key":"bibr37-2053951719833404","unstructured":"Uprichard E (2013) Focus: Big data, little questions?\n                      Discover Society\n                      . Available at: www.discoversociety.org\/2013\/10\/01\/focus-big-data-little-questions\/ (accessed 30 September 2014)."},{"key":"bibr46-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Vikkels\u00f8 S (2007) Description as Intervention: Engagement and Resistance in Actor-Network Analyses.\n                      Science as Culture\n                      16(3): 297\u2013309.","DOI":"10.1080\/09505430701568701"},{"key":"bibr38-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wallach H (2015) Conflusion \u2013 Computational Social Science: Toward a Collaborative Future. In: Michael Alvarez R (ed.)\n                      Data science for politics, policy, and government.\n                      Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 307\u2013316. Available at: http:\/\/dirichlet.net\/pdf\/wallach15computational.pdf (accessed 3 December 2018).","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9781316257340.014"},{"key":"bibr40-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315541860"},{"key":"bibr41-2053951719833404","volume-title":"Knowledge and Reflexivity: New Frontiers in the Sociology of Knowledge","author":"Woolgar","year":"1988"},{"key":"bibr42-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0162243915608948"},{"key":"bibr43-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/9780262029384.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr44-2053951719833404","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zuiderent-Jerak T and Bruun Jensen C (2007) Editorial introduction: Unpacking \u2018intervention'\u0099in science and technology studies.\n                      Science as Culture\n                      16(3): 227\u2013235.","DOI":"10.1080\/09505430701568552"}],"container-title":["Big Data &amp; Society"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/2053951719833404","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/2053951719833404","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/2053951719833404","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,28]],"date-time":"2026-04-28T12:57:46Z","timestamp":1777381066000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/2053951719833404"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2019,1]]},"references-count":44,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2019,1]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/2053951719833404"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/2053951719833404","relation":{"is-referenced-by":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.1007\/s44206-025-00197-4","asserted-by":"object"}]},"ISSN":["2053-9517","2053-9517"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2053-9517","type":"print"},{"value":"2053-9517","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2019,1]]},"article-number":"2053951719833404"}}