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Policy·P Space·Evidence-backed problem·Published 2026-07-13

AI in Everyday Life: How Algorithmic Systems Shape Social Relations, Opportunity, and Public Trust

Artificial intelligence is often framed as a neutral technical tool that enhances efficiency and consistency in institutional decision-making. This article challenges that framing by showing that automated systems now operate as social and institutional actors that reshape recognition, opportunity, and public trust in everyday life. Focusing on employment screening, welfare administration, and digital platforms, the study examines how algorithmic systems mediate social relations and reorganise how individuals ar…

TRV-2026-0202Peer-reviewedPermanent record — cite & verify
AI in Everyday Life: How Algorithmic Systems Shape Social Relations, Opportunity, and Public Trust

"Registration card of the Wellington Domestic Workers' Union'" by Archives New Zealand is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/.

The quick read

Published 12 February 2026 in Societies, this peer-reviewed article analyzes how algorithmic systems in employment screening, welfare administration, and digital platforms function as social and institutional actors. Using regulatory materials, platform governance documents, technical disclosures, and composite vignettes synthesized from public evidence, it examines how automated classification and delegated authority reshape how individuals are evaluated and legitimised.

The analysis matters because it reframes efficiency claims around AI decision support as shifts in institutional power that affect opportunity and legitimacy. By the publication date, the authors observe a pattern of reproduced disadvantage and new forms of exclusion linked to data abstraction, alongside erosion of relational recognition that technical fairness alone does not resolve, leaving open how governance reforms would restore accountability in practice.

Main points
  • Study examines employment screening, welfare administration, and digital platforms as sites where automated systems mediate evaluation and classification.
  • Analysis draws on regulatory and policy materials, platform governance documents, technical disclosures, and composite vignettes synthesised from publicly documented evidence.
  • Authors argue automated judgement acquires institutional authority through delegated authority, automated classification, and procedural opacity.
Problem

Algorithmic systems used in employment screening and welfare administration reproduce historical disadvantage and generate new exclusion while eroding relational recognition and producing trust deficits.

The rundown

The paper develops a sociological framework centered on delegated authority, automated classification, and procedural opacity to explain how automated judgement gains institutional power.

It identifies a dual logic of inequality where systems reproduce historical disadvantage via patterned data and create new exclusion by detaching individuals from familiar legal, social, and moral categories.

It concludes that automation destabilises procedural justice and that trust deficits persist beyond technical fixes, proposing governance reforms aimed at intelligibility, accountability, inclusion, and trust.

Sources

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