THE POWER OF ALGORITHMS ON THE CONSUMPTION OF
CULTURE
Alessandra Robba (S4996038)
Sociology of Arts II: Art Fields
January 14, 2022
Word count: 1601
Digitalization has had an enormous impact on today’s cultural world, therefore there have
been many changes on the production of cultural goods since the French sociologist Pierre
Bourdieu developed a sociological theory related to this particular topic. The digital has
brought new ways of creating, distributing and interacting with culture, especially due to the
rise of algorithms. Consequently, how is it possible that simple numbers have the capability
to influence society’s consumption of culture?
The field of cultural production, as defined by Bourdieu1, explains the relation between
cultural goods and the means through which they are produced. Different agents operate in
this field following a specific logic2, all with the aim to acquire and maintain symbolic
capital, which eventually can turn into economic capital. This particular type of capital can
also be labeled as recognition, which means obtaining support from the field. Artists can
choose two different ways to follow when entering the field: the small-scale production
which consists in making art for the art’s sake, or the large-scale production, where artists
make commercial art aimed at mass audiences. The former usually possess high cultural
capital but lack economic capital, while the latter take an opposite position, thus they possess
a large quantity of economic capital but low cultural capital.
As Bourdieu says in the text The production of cultural belief: contribution to an economy of
symbolic goods: “the fields of cultural goods are universe belief which can only function
insofar as they succeed in simultaneously producing products” (Bourdieu, 1980, p. 268), this
happens thanks to the existence of institutions and their respective institutional agents, whose
job is to act as a mediator between the producer and the audiences. These so called ‘cultural
intermediaries’ own cultural capital because they are aware of the conventions of the art
1
2
Bourdieu, P. (1993). The Field of Cultural Production. Polity Pr.
The main rule according to which agents operate in the field is the disavowal of the economy.
world, and use it to add value to the product which can take up the form of both cultural and
symbolic value. From cultural intermediaries has emerged a new class called ‘cultural
infomediaries’ which works with technology and collects cultural data, in order to create new
ways of presenting and experiencing cultural goods. Cultural infomediaries rely on
algorithms and are the reason why the latter are not neutral but editable and associated with
culture. Algorithms, through the interaction with human agents who use and design them,
have the power to build and orient the audiences’ tastes and behaviors. As a consequence,
algorithms can influence the production of cultural goods. Although it might seem a highly
technological system, the curation process is the result of the interaction between human
beings and machines.
This essay is aimed at drawing attention to how algorithms can impact the production,
consumption and reception of a specific sub-field belonging to the field of cultural
production. Through an experiment performed on a digital platform, which operates with the
use of algorithms and a vast database, it will be demonstrated how the experience of the user
can be manipulated in the recommendation process. As a result, I expect to find out that the
large-scale production is favored and backed by algorithmic data to a great extent compared
to the small-scale production, and especially how it helps gaining recognition to artists who
chose to follow this road. In addition, I believe that most of the recommendations will be
related to Adele’s Easy On Me official music video.
In the present day, the phenomena of algorithms has become a central feature in many
different fields, especially in the field of cultural production, thanks to its power of shaping
field’s agents ' everyday life. To research the influence of algorithms within the field of
cultural production, a group research was conducted. The experiment took place on YouTube,
an online platform dedicated to the sharing and viewing of multimedia contents. The starting
point of the research is the official music video of Adele’s new single “Easy on Me” posted
on October 15th, 2021. As a group, we decided to start our observation with this specific song
and video because it was recently published and so, therefore, it was gaining a large amount
of engagement, especially because the comeback of the singer was highly anticipated. Each
of us had to create a new YouTube profile with different variables (age, ethnicity, gender,
currency) in order to be neutral and avoid mixing our personal tastes with the experiment, and
to obtain results as accurate as possible, the study was conducted by all four group members
at 9 p.m. from Groningen every day, for approximately one week.
The experiment consisted in opening YouTube every day and writing down the top
music-related recommendation appearing in the starting video, clicking on it and repeating
the process two more times. Every observation and variable taken in consideration was listed
on an Excel table and shared with the other members of the group, such as the weather, the
recommended advertisements, the number and type of tabs that were open while conducting
the experiment, and the browser used. The following table demonstrates the results collected
through the experiment, it lists the starting video of the day and the last recommended video
of the same day for each different profile:
Profiles
Day 1
(22 Nov)
Day 2
(23 Nov)
Day 3
(24 Nov)
Day 4
(25 Nov)
Day 5
(26 Nov)
Day 6
(27 Nov)
Day 7
(28 Nov)
Beatriz
Pérez
Adele - Easy On
Me (Official
Video)
Lady Gaga Always
remember us this
way (Lyrics
video)
Tea Lovrekovic
- Always
remember us
this way
(cover)
Melissa - Jar
Of Hearts (The
Voice Kids
2021: the blind
auditions)
Zita zingt
‘Samen voor
altijd’ | Blind
audition | The
Voice Kids |
VTM
Britney - Zombie
(The Voice kids
2015: the blind
auditions)
Antonio y Paco:
Te Quiero, Te
Quiero Audiciones a
Ciegas - La Voz
Kids 2017
Tea Lovrekovic Always
remember us this
way (cover)
Melissa - Jar
Of Hearts (The
Voice Kids
2021: the blind
auditions)
Zita zingt
‘Samen voor
altijd’ | Blind
audition | The
Voice Kids
Adele - Hello
(Official Video)
John Legend All of Me
(Official
Video)
One Direction
- You & I
Female
36 y/o
Mexican
Asena
Gunes
Female
17 y/o
Lady Gaga Always
remember us
this way (Lyrics
video)
Adele - Easy On
Me (Official
Video)
Adele - Hello
(Official Video)
John Legend All of Me
(Official Video)
Adele - Easy On
Me (Official
Video)
Adele - Easy On
Me (Official
Video)
Adele - Set Fire
To The Rain
(Live at The
Royal Albert
Hall)
Bruno Mars &
Anderson .Paak
as Silk Sonic Smokin Out The
Window (LIVE
American Music
Awards)
Turkish
Blue
Cookie
Gender
neutral
Young
Western
Olivienne
Balou
Female
24 y/o
French
Rosario y su
equipo: Por Un
Beso Tuyo - Final
- La Voz Kids
Tate McRae feel like shit
(Official Video)
Dean Lewis - Be
Alright (Official
Video)
Lord Huron - The
Night We Met
(Official Audio)
GAYLE abcdefu (official
Music Video)
BANNERS Someone To You
Kodaline - All I
Want (Part 2)
Were Young
(Live at The
Church Studios)
Adele - Easy On
Me (Official
Video)
Adele - Easy On
Me (Official
Video)
Adele - When
We Were
Young (Live at
The Church
Studios)
Adele - Easy On
Me (Official
Video)
Adele - Easy On
Me (Official
Video)
Olivia Rodrigo traitor (Live From
Austin City
Limits)
Easy On Me Adele (Lyrics)
by Our Song
Lyrics
Adele - Easy On
Me (Live at the
NRJ Awards
2021)
Adele - Easy On
Me Lyrics by Just
Another Girl
Adele - Easy on
Me (Lyrics) by
Amazing Music
Adele - Easy
On Me (Live at
the NRJ
Awards 2021)
Adele - Easy On
Me Lyrics by
Just Another
Girl
Adele - Easy on
Me (Lyrics) by
Amazing Music
Turning Tables by
Adele - Lyrics by
Caitlin Lloyd
One Direction
- Little Things
P!nk - What
About Us
(Official
Video)
Bruno Mars &
Anderson .Paak
as Silk Sonic Smokin Out
The Window
(LIVE
American
Music Awards)
Britney Zombie (The
Voice kids 2015)
Antonio y Paco:
Te Quiero, Te
Quiero Audiciones a
Ciegas - La Voz
Kids 2017
Adele - To Be
Loved
Adele - To Be
Loved
Adele - Easy On
Me (Official
Video)
Adele - Easy On
Me (Official
Video)
easy on me adele (lyrics)
by Nav Grewal
Adele - When
We were Young
(Lyrics) by
VazeMuzz
easy on me adele (lyrics) by
Nav Grewal
Easy On Me Adele (Lyrics)
by Our Song
Lyrics
From the table it is clear that for each profile algorithms created a pattern of recommended
videos, however from the final results it is difficult to find a correlation between all profiles.
As previously discussed in the expectations, some profiles received several recommendations
linked to Adele and her previous songs apart from the account of Beatriz Pérez who disliked
the video after the first watch. The same procedure was performed by the same account with
the video of the performance of “Te Quiero, Te Quiero” by Antonio y Paco from La Voz Kids
2017, however in this case the profile did not stop receiving video recommendations from
The Voice Kids Espana. As a consequence, is it possible even though it might be a pure
coincidence, that Beatriz Pérez, a woman from Mexico where the official language is
Spanish, received several recommended videos from the TV show “The Voice Espana”,
especially performances in spanish.
It is interesting to see how almost all profiles made by a female, apart from the one of Asena
Gunes, received recommendations that involve mainly female figures; this could be the
outcome of a correlation between the gender of the owner of the account and the gender of
the characters present in the recommended videos. Although, this did not happen in the case
of the Turkish girl profile so it is not easy to understand how algorithms functioned.
Regarding the profile of the Mexican woman, I have also found very amusing the fact that the
first time it was used, the initial advertisement was a spot from the Netherlands government
encouraging foreigners to visit the country. Despite being a foreigner student and living in the
Netherlands this never occured to me, as everyone else I always get commercials on my
private account but usually from local chain stores.
While conducting the experiment, variables such as weather and open tabs did not seem to
have an impact on the final results as I expected, what surprised me was the variable of age
which I imagined would have had a great influence on the recommendations, but from what
we gathered I was not able to find any correlation to it. I personally find it hard to establish a
common genre to all the profiles, since the final results involve lyrics videos, live
performances, famous pop music videos and covers from a known TV show. The obtained
results are thus proof that algorithms are in fact personal and shape the experience of the
users through the interaction with them, consequently four very different profiles encountered
four extremely distinct experiences. Algorithms, in accordance with the user’s private
information and data, build a personalized space aimed at that specific user and their tastes,
which eventually has an impact on the user’s consumption of cultural goods.
Using the experiment to reflect on Bourdieu’s theory, I would say that it is still relevant in
today’s society, but with some exceptions. A consequence of these new digital platforms like
YouTube, which allows everyone to post content, is that the borders of the field of cultural
production have loosen, however this does not imply that symbolic capital is not relevant
anymore. From the results gathered, some profiles received a few video recommendations by
small Youtube accounts with only little followers and videos. This consideration represents
the power of Youtube in helping unknown profiles to gain symbolic capital through an easy
and fast procedure, yet big and famous accounts are still favored. Artists who decide to go for
the large-scale production are immediately picked up by algorithms and therefore gain a huge
amount of recognition right away which increases gradually, for instance most of the
recommendations received were already known and famous videos. Once again, symbolic
capital is the main element which supports the field of cultural production.
Undoubtedly Bourdiu’s theory of the field of cultural production is still relevant in 2022,
although nowadays the entrance in the field of new figures such as infomediaries and
algorithms, has changed the way in which cultural goods are produced and perceived by the
external audience. To have a clear vision of the role that these new aspects play and their
reflection on society, it would be appropriate to conduct a similar experiment on further
digital platforms specialized in different cultural goods such as Spotify, Kindle, Netflix. To
conclude, it is certain that algorithms have an extremely important function in orienting
human agents' consumption of cultural goods, therefore they shape the production of culture
in general.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adele. (2021, October 15). Adele - Easy On Me (Official Video) [Video]. Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3ASj1L6_sY
Bourdieu, P., Nice, R. (1980). The production of belief: contribution to an economy of
symbolic goods. Media, Culture & Society, 2(3), 261-293. Academic Press Inc.
https://doi.org/10.1177/016344378000200305
Hesmondhalgh, D. (2006). Bourdieu, the media and cultural production. Media, Culture &
Society, 28(2), 211-231. SAGE Publications.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0163443706061682
Morris, J.W. (2015). Curation by code: Infomediaries and the data mining of taste. European
Journal of Cultural Studies, 18(4-5), 446-463.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1367549415577387