Kann Technik sanktionieren? Der technische Vollvollzug von Normen als soziologisches Problem

Abstract

In view of the increasing autonomisation of (algorithmic) technologies, the question of how such technologies are to be regulated and how such technologies have a regulating effect on human coexistence arises with ever greater urgency. Against this background, this article discusses the extent to which technologies can have a sanctioning effect and in which socio-technical contexts we can speak of a technical sanctioning effect. In the course of this, jurisprudential and techno-sociological discussions are brought together and analysed against the background of a (legal) sociological concept of sanction, which refers to the close connection with social norms, with reference to the examples of autonomous weapon systems and alcohol-sensitive interlocks. These are shown to differ in terms of their mode of regulation in temporal, factual and social or symbolic terms. It is argued that technology can indeed sanction in some cases, but often only a technically mediated functionalisation of norm references is carried out by technology. This conceptual differentiation seems all the more important the broader and stronger algorithms and technology as a whole intervene in regulating social life.