A Skeptical Review of Critical Code Studies

Is Code Really a “Social Text”? A Skeptical Review of Critical Code Studies

TL;DR: A sharp academic review takes aim at Mark C. Marino’s Critical Code Studies (MIT Press, 2020). The verdict? Lots of hype, some interesting cases, but little real code analysis. If you’re a programmer who rolls your eyes at postmodern buzzwords, this one’s for you.

📖 The Book in a Nutshell

Marino argues that code has escaped the programmer’s dungeon and entered mainstream culture. Code is no longer just a tool – it’s a social text whose meaning changes with every new reader (lawyers, poets, activists, etc.). The book promises a literary‑style reading of software, drawing on postcolonial, feminist, and queer theory.

🔍 What the Review Says (Boris Orekhov, Digital Humanities, 2026)

Me, Boris Orekhov - a digital humanities scholar - is not impressed. My main gripes:

Overblown claims – “Audience of code has exploded!” Really? When was the last time a climate change debate hinged on reading source code? I call it cherry‑picking.
Case‑dropping, not analysis – We get anecdotes: a protest sign in C, a feminist PHP app, the Transborder Immigrant Tool. But actual code examination is superficial. A license phrase (“no warranties”) is noted as tragicomic – that’s about it.
Lost the plot – Marino sets up a story about two programmers competing for a job, then… never finishes it. This happens every 10‑15 pages.
Postmodern catechism – The book wears its ideology on its sleeve (postcolonial, queer, feminist). Fine, but it substitutes slogans for rational argument. Systematic methodology? Nowhere.
Missing prior work – My own 2015 paper on code as poetry, and Black’s 2015 Mozilla history (which does a real textual analysis), are ignored.

🤖 The Elephant in the Room: LLMs

The book was written when only humans wrote code. Now LLMs generate code without intention or social context. That guts Marino’s entire framework of authorial social meaning.

🎯 Final Verdict

“This book is less a scientific study and more a cabinet of curiosities – or a postmodern art exhibit catalog dressed as a monograph.”

It might find its audience, but don’t expect a toolkit for actually reading code.

👩‍💻 Why Should Programmers Care?

Because the gap between how we write code and how humanities scholars talk about it is huge. This review gives you an honest, critical look at one of the most hyped books in “software studies.” You’ll learn:

Why calling code a “text” is both obvious and misleading
Why social‑justice lenses often skip the actual for loops
What happens when ideology meets semicolons

And you’ll get a good laugh at academic overreach.

📄 Read the Full Review (PDF)

👉 Critical Code Studies review – Orekhov 2026

📚 Cite the Original Review

APA

Orekhov, B. (2026). Рецензия на книгу Марка К. Марино «Критические исследования кода» [Review of Critical Code Studies, by M. C. Marino]. Цифровые гуманитарные исследования, (1), 114–121. https://doi.org/10.31860/cgi-2026-1-114-121

MLA

Orekhov, Boris. “Рецензия на книгу Марка К. Марино «Критические исследования кода».” Review of Critical Code Studies, by Mark C. Marino. Цифровые гуманитарные исследования, no. 1, 2026, pp. 114–121. DOI: 10.31860/cgi-2026-1-114-121.

Chicago

Orekhov, Boris. “Рецензия на книгу Марка К. Марино «Критические исследования кода».” Review of Critical Code Studies, by Mark C. Marino. Цифровые гуманитарные исследования 1 (2026): 114–121. https://doi.org/10.31860/cgi-2026-1-114-121.

BibTeX

@review{Orekhov2026code,
  title = {Рецензия на книгу Марка К. Марино «Критические исследования кода»},
  author = {Орехов, Борис},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.31860/cgi-2026-1-114-121},
  journal = {Цифровые гуманитарные исследования},
  number = {1},
  pages = {114--121}
}

💬 Let’s Discuss

Have you read Critical Code Studies? Do you think code has a “social life” beyond its function? Drop your take in the comments – and share this post if you want more honest, no‑BS book reviews for devs.

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