You Are What You Watch: The Netflix Recommendation System and the Rise of the Algorithmic Culture Industry
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Netflix is a film and media streaming service with over 200 million subscribers and a quarterly revenue of $7.16 billion. Netflix catalyzed massive change in media distribution, and the company continues to dominate the marketplace. By examining Netflix’s conceptualization of and interaction with its millions of users, I demonstrate how Netflix’s algorithmic recommendation system evolved older cultural models by moving away from user ratings, demographic categories, and human decisions around film distribution. These shifts happened gradually and with little awareness on the part of Netflix’s subscriber base. I trace Netflix patents, publications, press releases, and more to make visible the opaque algorithmic system. I find that the Netflix algorithmic system pronounces the user’s identity through recommendations, a process I link to Althusser’s theory of interpellation. I argue that iterated interactions with the algorithmic system structure user behavior and give rise to an algorithmic culture. I demonstrate how the system limits user autonomy by collecting data without the user’s active participation, constraining the user’s behavior, and manufacturing the user’s desires. The algorithmic system creates a culture that shares elements with Adorno and Horkheimer’s description of the “culture industry,” including the valuing of consumption over fulfillment and the narrowing of tastes toward the mainstream to maximize profits. Algorithmic culture moves beyond what Horkheimer and Adorno describe, however, because a non-human actor becomes the dominant cultural force.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | May 28, 2021 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Yonis, Julianna |
|---|---|
| Degree granting institution | Stanford University, Department of Science, Technology and Society |
| Primary advisor | Edwards, Paul N. |
Subjects
| Subject | culture industry |
|---|---|
| Subject | algorithmic culture |
| Subject | Netflix |
| Subject | Science Technology and Society |
| Subject | recommendation system |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Yonis, Julianna (2021). You Are What You Watch: The Netflix Recommendation System and the Rise of the Algorithmic Culture Industry. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/zz193vr5979
Collection
Stanford University, Program in Science, Technology and Society, Honors Theses
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- Contact
- juliannayonis@gmail.com
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