The Find in the Missing: Ethical Implications and the Decolonization of Rating Systems for Digital and Social Media in GREAT Economies

Authors: Prasanna P. Karhade

Abstract

Digital and social media (DSM) can support existing power structures or realign them to allow the subaltern to speak. Research should address ethical implications of unequal representation of different segments of a society on DSM. Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, we investigate voices that do (and don’t) speak on DSM. We integrate induction and abduction to study rating systems on a pan-India food delivery and discovery digital platform. Our findings imply that the voice of the subaltern is missing because instruments used to hear the voice are borrowed from western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic (WEIRD) contexts and are mindlessly imposed on growing, rural, eastern, aspirational and transitional (GREAT) contexts. We highlight the need for decolonization of research for GREAT domains. The subaltern can speak; there must be decolonization of research, so we are able to hear what it has to say.