Department of Sociology, University of Georgia, 113 Baldwin Hall, Athens, Georgia 30602; e-mail: dbshank@uga.edu.
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Perceived Justice and Reactions to Coercive Computers†
Article first published online: 30 MAY 2012
DOI: 10.1111/j.1573-7861.2012.01322.x
© 2012 Eastern Sociological Society
Additional Information
How to Cite
Shank, D. B. (2012), Perceived Justice and Reactions to Coercive Computers. Sociological Forum, 27: 372–391. doi: 10.1111/j.1573-7861.2012.01322.x
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This work has been funded by the National Science Foundation Grants NSF#0519969 and NSF#0729396 to Dawn T. Robinson and Jody Clay-Warner. I thank both of them as well as E. M. Beck, David Smilde, Elizabeth Cherry, Katie James, Jesse K. Clark, Tiffani Everett, Long Doan, and anonymous reviewers for excellent comments on drafts of this article. Additionally, I thank Ming Tsang, who helped conduct the laboratory experiment. This article received the 2009 Howard W. Odum Award for outstanding graduate student paper from the Southern Sociological Society and was presented at the annual meetings in New Orleans in April 2009. This article received the 2009 Graduate Student Paper Award from the Social Psychology Section of the American Sociological Association. Earlier versions of this work were workshopped at the Group Processes 2008 Annual Conference in Boston and at the Georgia Workshop on Culture, Power, and History at the University of Georgia in 2008.
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Department of Sociology, University of Georgia, 113 Baldwin Hall, Athens, Georgia 30602; e-mail: dbshank@uga.edu.
Publication History
- Issue published online: 30 MAY 2012
- Article first published online: 30 MAY 2012
- Abstract
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Keywords:
- coercion;
- human-computer interaction;
- identity;
- justice;
- social exchange;
- technology
Sociology and justice theories indicate that coercive behavior creates a sense of injustice, but what if a computer is the proximal source of this coercion? I argue that people attribute justice to computers, but do so differently than to humans—people may perceive computers’ behavior as unjust, but not as unjust as the same behavior by humans. Likewise, individuals resist and retaliate against coercive behavior, but do so less if the coercer is a computer. These hypotheses are extended from justice studies in social exchange. Specifically, I expand on Molm et al.’s (1993) laboratory experiment of coercion in social exchange, adding a human versus computer identity condition. I conduct a laboratory experiment (N = 121) that replicates Molm et al.’s study and supports the hypotheses on justice, resistance, and retaliation to coercive computers.