Algorithms and everyday life: a critical socio-communicative approach

Journal title SOCIOLOGIA DELLA COMUNICAZIONE
Author/s Giovanni Boccia Artieri, Roberta Bartoletti
Publishing Year 2024 Issue 2023/66
Language Italian Pages 16 P. 5-20 File size 250 KB
DOI 10.3280/SC2023-066001
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The article provides the theoretical background for the special issue, which proposes to consider algorithms as reflections and products of broader political, social and cultural processes. A critical socio-communicative approach to algorithms allows researchers to recognise their scope and significance within the broader process of mediatisation, i.e. the pervasive influence of media on society and culture. In particular, algorithms characterise the current phase of deep mediatisation, defined by processes of digitisation and datafication. Moving beyond a conception of algorithms as “neutral mediators”, it is crucial to question both how they are generated and how people perceive their agency in everyday life – as the term algorithmic imaginary effectively sums up. Thus, an approach that embraces the affective and performative dimensions of algorithms becomes central, shifting the focus away from the question of algorithmic power per se. Finally, the article presents the main insights of the six articles selected for the special issue on the creation and use of algorithms in different social contexts and media environments.

Keywords: algorithms, everyday life, algorithmic power, algorithmic imaginary, practice

  1. Appadurai A. (a cura di) (1986), The social life of things. Commodities in cultural perspective, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  2. Bartoletti R., Parmiggiani P., Paltrinieri R. (a cura di) (2022), Pratiche di consumo alla prova del Covid-19, FrancoAngeli, Milano.
  3. Beer D. (2009), Power through the algorithm? Participatory web cultures and the technological Unconscious, «New Media & Society», 11(6), pp. 985-1002, https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444809336551.
  4. Boccia Artieri G. (2015), Mediatizzazione e Network Society: un programma di ricerca, «Sociologia della Comunicazione», 50(2), pp. 62-69, DOI 10.3280/SC2015-050006.
  5. Boccia Artieri G. (2020), Fare sociologia attraverso l’algoritmo: potere, cultura e agency, «Sociologia Italiana», 15, pp. 137–148, DOI 10.1485/2281-2652-202015-7.
  6. Boccia Artieri G. (2022), Comunicare: la mediatizzazione, in Bichi R. (a cura di), Sociologia generale, Vita&Pensiero, Milano, pp. 464-476.
  7. Boccia Artieri G., Gemini L., Pasquali F., Carlo S., Farci M., Pedroni M. (2017), Fenomenologia dei social network. Presenza, relazioni e consumi mediali degli italiani online, Guerini&Associati, Milano.
  8. Bonini T., Magaudda P. (2023), La musica nell’era digitale, il Mulino, Bologna.
  9. Bonini T., Treré E. (2022), Disconnessione digitale e resistenza tra i corrieri dell’industria del food delivery online, «Sociologia della comunicazione», 64, pp. 98-117, DOI 10.3280/SC2022-064006.
  10. Bourdieu P. (1979), La distinction, Les éditions du minuit, Paris; trad. it. La distinzione. Critica sociale del gusto, il Mulino, Bologna, 2001.
  11. Bucher T. (2017), The algorithmic imaginary: exploring the ordinary affects of Facebook algorithms, «Information, Communication & Society», 20(1), pp. 30-44, DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2016.115408
  12. Bucher T. (2018), If... Then: Algorithmic Power and Politics, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
  13. Cotter K. (2019), Playing the visibility game: How digital influencers and algorithms negotiate influence on Instagram, «New Media & Society», 21(4), pp. 895-913., https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818815684
  14. Couldry N. (2004), Theorizing media as practice, «Social Semiotics», 14(2), pp. 115-132, https://doi.org/10.1080/1035033042000238295.
  15. Couldry N., Hepp A. (2013), Conceptualizing Mediatization: Contexts, Traditions, Arguments, «Communication Theory», 23(3), pp. 191-202, https://doi.org/10.1111/comt.12019.
  16. Couldry N., Hepp A. (2017), The mediated construction of reality, Polity Press, Cambridge.
  17. de Certeau M. (1980), L’invention du quotidien. L’Arts de faire, Gallimard, Paris; trad. it. L’invenzione del quotidiano, Edizioni Lavoro, Roma, 2001.
  18. Douglas M., Isherwood B. (1979), The World of Goods, Basic Books, New York; trad. it. Il mondo delle cose. Oggetti, valori, consumo, il Mulino, Bologna, 1984.
  19. Esposito E. (2022), Artificial communication: How algorithms produce social intelligence. MIT Press, Cambridge MA; trad. it. Comunicazione artificiale. Come gli algoritmi producono intelligenza sociale, Bocconi University Press, Milano, 2022.
  20. Gillespie, T., Seaver N. (2016), Critical algorithm studies: A reading list. https://socialmediacollective.org/reading-lists/critical-algorithm-studies/
  21. Hall S. (1980), Encoding/Decoding in Television Discourse, in Hall S., Hobston D., Lowe A., Willis P. (a cura di), Culture, Media, Language, Working Papers in Cultural Studies, 1972-1979, Hutchinson, London, pp. 117-127; trad. it. Codifica e decodifica, in Marinelli A., Fatelli G. (a cura di), Tele-visioni. L’audience come volontà e come rappresentazione, Meltemi, Roma, 2000, pp. 2-35.
  22. Hall S. (1981), Notes on Deconstructing “the Popular” in Samuel R. (ed.), People’s History and Socialist Theory, Routledge, London; trad. it. Appunti sulla decostruzione del termine “popolare”, in Mora E., Gli attrezzi per vivere, Vita&Pensiero, Milano, 2005, pp. 157-173.
  23. Hepp A. (2020), Deep mediatization, Routledge, London.
  24. Hjarvard S. (2011), The mediatisation of religion: Theorising religion, media and social change, «Culture and Religion», 12(2), pp. 119-135, https://doi.org/10.1080/14755610.2011.579719.
  25. Iliadis A., Russo F. (2016), Critical data studies: An introduction, «Big Data & Society», 3(2), pp. 1–7, https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951716674238.
  26. Karakayali N., Kostem B., Galip I. (2018), Recommendation Systems as Technologies of the Self: Algorithmic Control and the Formation of Music Taste, «Theory, Culture & Society», 35(2), pp. 3-24, https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276417722391
  27. Lundby K. (ed.) (2014), Mediatization of Communication: Handbooks of Communication Science vol. 21, De Gruyter Mouton, Berlin.
  28. Lupton D. (2015), Digital Sociology, Routledge, London; trad. it. Sociologia digitale, Pearson, Milano, 2018.
  29. Marinelli A., Boccia Artieri G. (2019), Per un’«economia politica» delle piattaforme, Introduzione a Van Dijck J., Poell T., de Waal M., Platform society. Valori pubblici e società connessa, Guerini & Associati, Milano, pp. 9-21.
  30. Mager A. (2012), Algorithmic ideology: How capitalist society shapes search engines, «Information, Communication & Society», 15(5), pp. 769–787, https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2012.676056.
  31. McCracken G. (1988), Culture and Consumption. New Approaches to the Symbolic Character of Consumer Goods and Activities, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis.
  32. Miller D. (1987), Material culture and Mass Consumption, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
  33. Noble S. (2018), Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, NYU Press, New York.
  34. Pasquale F. (2015), The black box society: The secret algorithms that control money and information, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
  35. Rogers R. (2013), Digital Methods, Mit Press, Cambridge MA; trad. it. Metodi digitali. Fare ricerca sociale con il web, il Mulino, Bologna, 2016.
  36. Sassatelli R. (2004), Consumo, cultura e società, il Mulino, Bologna.
  37. Schwennesen N. (2019), Algorithmic assemblages of care: Imaginaries, epistemologies and repair work, «Sociology of Health & Illness», 41, pp. 176-192, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.12900.
  38. Schulz C. (2023), A new algorithmic imaginary, «Media, Culture & Society», 45(3), pp. 646-655.
  39. Siles I., Espinoza-Rojas J, Naranjo A., Tristán M.F. (2019), The Mutual Domestication of Users and Algorithmic Recommendations on Netflix, «Communication, Culture and Critique», 12(4), pp. 499–518, ​​https://doi.org/10.1093/ccc/tcz025.
  40. Siles I., Gómez-Cruz E., Ricaurte P. (2023), Toward a popular theory of algorithms, «Popular Communication», 21(1), pp. 57-70, DOI: 10.1080/15405702.2022.2103140
  41. Silverstone R. (2000), Televisione e vita quotidiana, il Mulino, Bologna.
  42. Silverstone R., Hirsch E. (Eds.) (1992), Consuming technologies: Media and information in domestic spaces, Routledge, London.
  43. Steen E., Yurechko K., Klug D. (2023), You Can (Not) Say What You Want: Using Algospeak to Contest and Evade Algorithmic Content Moderation on TikTok, «Social Media + Society», 9(3), https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231194586.
  44. van der Nagel E. (2018), ‘Networks that work too well’: Intervening in algorithmic connections, «Media International Australia», 168(1), pp. 81–92, DOI: 10.1177/1329878X18783002
  45. Van Dijck J. (2013), The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
  46. Velkova J., Kaun A. (2021), Algorithmic resistance: media practices and the politics of repair, «Information, Communication & Society», 24(4), pp. 523-540, DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2019.1657162
  47. Vittadini N. (2018), Social media studies. I social media alla soglia della maturità: storia, teorie e temi, FrancoAngeli, Milano.
  48. Warde A. (2005), Consumption and Theories of Practice, «Journal of Consumer Culture», 5(2), pp. 131-153, https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540505053090.

Giovanni Boccia Artieri, Roberta Bartoletti, Algoritmi e vita quotidiana: un approccio socio-comunicativo critico in "SOCIOLOGIA DELLA COMUNICAZIONE " 66/2023, pp 5-20, DOI: 10.3280/SC2023-066001