A Figure and What Lays Behind: The Politics of Data Visualization

Abstract: The study examines data visualization from the perspective of critical data science as a symbolic system constructing social relations. We argue that data visualizations are not merely neutral representations of quantified reality but complex linguistic and visual symbolic systems that can mediate and influence various power relations, thus functioning as political instruments. Our study is the first in the Hungarian data science and social science field to apply the tools of the critical paradigm to the ontological foundations lying behind data visualizations and their working mechanisms. Through a comprehensive synthesis of the relevant international literature and case studies, the paper details the political potential of data visualizations and the responsibility and agency that data scientists and visualization designers have in maintaining or even reducing social inequalities. The critical analysis of data visualizations has emancipatory potential, as it can contribute to achieving social justice and revealing the ideology of dataism.