Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Production of Algorithms and the Cultural Politics of Web Search

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Technologies of Labour and the Politics of Contradiction

Part of the book series: Dynamics of Virtual Work ((DVW))

Abstract

Bilić offers an analysis that moves beyond promotional discourses of technological progress. Focusing on Google as the flagship product of Alphabet Inc. he critically analyses algorithms as part of the capitalist production process embedded in the global division of labour. Bilić grounds his analysis in the original works of Herbert Marcuse as well as contemporary readings of Marcuse and the burgeoning field of digital labour studies. The ‘Production of Algorithms and the Cultural Politics of Web Search’ concludes that contradictions embedded in the global division of search engine labour create contingencies in the technical design of algorithms and cultural politics of web search. These contradictions are not conducive to democracy as they operate under a limited vision of society and skewed horizon of human experience.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    According to the US patent office there were 14,814 patents assigned under the name Google in June 2017 as well as 17 assigned under the new company name Alphabet Inc .

  2. 2.

    This term broadly relates to the international division of digital labour (IDDL) proposed by Fuchs (2013).

  3. 3.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-25/google-rewrites-its-powerful-search-rankings-to-bury-fake-news. Accessed 16 August 2017.

  4. 4.

    http://searchengineland.com/google-flag-upsetting-offensive-content-271119. Accessed 16 August 2017.

  5. 5.

    https://www.google.com/intl/es419/insidesearch/howsearchworks/algorithms.html. Accessed 16 August 2017.

  6. 6.

    In June 2017 Alphabet Inc. was fined a record 2.42 billion Euros for abusing its dominant position and giving illegal advantage to its own comparison shopping service. http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-17-1784_en.htm. Accessed 16 August 2017.

  7. 7.

    http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-2532_en.htm. Accessed 16 August 2017.

References

  • Alphabet Inc. (2016, March 28). Search Quality Rating Guidelines (SQRG).

    Google Scholar 

  • Alphabet Inc. (2017a). Form 10-K. Available at https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1652044/000165204417000008/goog10-kq42016.htm. Accessed 16 Aug 2017.

  • Alphabet Inc. (2017b). How search works? Available at https://www.google.com/intl/es419/insidesearch/howsearchworks/algorithms.html. Accessed 16 Aug 2017.

  • Alphabet Inc. (2017c, March 14). Search Quality Rating Guidelines (SQRG).

    Google Scholar 

  • Association for Computing Machinery. (2017). New statement on algorithmic transparency and accountability by ACM U.S. Public Policy Council. Available at https://techpolicy.acm.org/?p=6156. Accessed 18 Aug 2017.

  • Barbrook, R., & Cameron, A. (1996). The Californian ideology. Science as Culture, 6(1), 44–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beer, D. (2017). The social power of algorithms. Information, Communication & Society, 20(1), 1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bilić, P. (2016). Search algorithms, hidden labour and information control. Big Data & Society, 3(1), 1–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bilić, P. (2017). The hidden human labour behind search engine algorithms. London School of Economics Media Policy blog. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mediapolicyproject/2017/02/21/the-hidden-human-labour-behind-search-engine-algorithms/. Accessed 16 Aug 2017.

  • Bolin, G., & Schwarz, J. A. (2015). Heuristics of the algorithm: Big data, user interpretation and institutional translation. Big Data & Society, 2(2), 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diakopulous, N. (2014). Algorithmic accountability: On the investigation of Black Boxes. http://towcenter.org/research/algorithmic-accountability-on-the-investigation-of-black-boxes-2/#endnotes. Accessed 16 Aug 2017.

  • European Parliament. (2015). Google antitrust proceedings: Digital business and competition. Available at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2015)565870. Accessed 16 Aug 2017.

  • Feenberg, A. (1999). Marcuse or Habermas: Two critiques of technology. Inquiry, 39, 45–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feenberg, A. (2010). Between reason and experience: Essays in technology and modernity. Cambridge, MA/London: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fish, A. (2017). Technology retreats and the politics of social media. Triple C, 15(1), 355–369.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, E. (2010). Media and new capitalism in the digital age: The spirit of networks. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, E. (2015). Class struggles in the digital frontier: Audience labour theory and social media users. Information, Communication & Society, 18(9), 1108–1122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fuchs, C. (2010). Labor in informational capitalism and on the internet. The Information Society, 26, 179–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fuchs, C. (2013). Theorising and analysing digital labour: From global value chains to modes of production. The Political Economy of Communication, 1(2), 3–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuchs, C., & Sevignani, S. (2013). What is digital labour? What is digital work? What’s their difference? And why do these questions matter for understanding social media? Triple, 11(2), 237–293.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillespie, T. (2014). The relevance of algorithms. In T. Gillespie, P. Boczkowski, & K. A. Foot (Eds.), Media technologies: Essays on communication, materiality, and society (pp. 167–193). Cambridge, MA/London: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Granka, L. A. (2010). The politics of search: A decade retrospective. The Information Society, 26, 364–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J. (1968/1989). Technology and science as “ideology”. In J. Habermas (Ed.), Toward a rational society: Student protest, science and politics (pp. 81–122). Boston: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hargittai, E. (2007). The social, political, economic and cultural dimensions of search engines: An introduction. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12, 769–777.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hillis, K., Petit, M., & Jarrett, K. (2013). Google and the culture of search. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horkheimer, M., & Adorno, T. W. (1944/2002). Dialectic of enlightenment: Cultural memory in the present. Stanford. Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Introna, L. D., & Nissembaum, H. (2000). Shaping the web: Why the politics of search engines matters. The Information Society, 16, 169–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jhally, S., & Livant, B. (1986). Watching as working: The valorization of audience consciousness. Journal of Communication, 36(3), 124–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kitchin, R. (2017). Thinking critically about and researching algorithms. Information, Communication & Society, 20(1), 14–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kowalski, R. (1979). Algorithm = logic + control. Communications of the ACM, 22(7), 424–436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lazzarato, M. (1996). Immaterial labour. In P. Virno & M. Hardt (Eds.), Radical thought in Italy: A potential politics. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, M. (2011). Google ads and the blindspot debate. Media, Culture and Society, 33(3), 433–447.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lionbridge. (2016). Form 10-K. Available at https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1058299/000105829916000047/liox-20151231x10k.htm. Accessed 16 Aug 2017.

  • Lionbridge. (2017a). About Lionbridge. Available at http://www.lionbridge.com/our-company/. Accessed 16 Aug 2017.

  • Lionbridge. (2017b). Global testing. Available at http://www.thesmartcrowd.com/solutions/global-testing/. Accessed 16 Aug 2017.

  • Lukacs, G. (1972). The phenomenon of reification. In G. Lukacs (Ed.), History and class consciousness: Studies in Marxist dialectics (pp. 83–110). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacKenzie, D. (1984). Marx and the machine. Technology & Culture, 25(3), 473–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mager, A. (2012). Algorithmic ideology: How capitalist society shapes search engines. Information, Communication & Society, 15(5), 769–787.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mager, A. (2014). Defining algorithmic ideology: Using ideology critique to scrutinize corporate search engines. Triple C, 12(1), 28–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marcuse, H. (1941). Some social implications of modern technology. In D. Kellner (Ed.), Technology, war, fascism: Collected papers of Herbert Marcuse (pp. 41–65). London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marcuse, H. (1960). From ontology to technology. In D. Kellner & P. Clayton (Eds.), Philosophy, psychoanalysis and emancipation (pp. 132–140). London/New York: Routledge Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marcuse, H. (1964/2007). One-dimensional man: Studies in the ideology of advanced industrial society. London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marcuse, H. (1969). An essay on liberation. Boston: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marcuse, H. (1978). The aesthetic dimension: Toward a critique of Marxist aesthetics. Boston: Beacon Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Marx, K. (1867/2004). Capital, volume 1. London: Penguin Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mosco, V. (2011). The political economy of labor. In J. Wasko, G. Murdock, & H. Sousa (Eds.), The handbook of political economy of communication (pp. 358–380). Chichester: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Mosco, V., & McKercher, K. (2009). The laboring of communication: Will knowledge workers of the world unite? Lanham/Boulder/New York/Toronto/Plymouth: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • NASDAQ. (2017). Companies by industry; North America; Mega-Cap. Available at http://www.nasdaq.com/screening/companies-by-industry.aspx?region=North+America&coun-try=United%20States&marketcap=Mega-cap. Accessed 16 Aug 2017.

  • Pariser, E. (2011, March). Beware of online filter bubbles. In: TED conference, Long Beach. www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html. Accessed 16 Aug 2017.

  • Pasquinelli, M. (2009). Google’s PageRank algorithm: A diagram of the cognitive capitalism and the rentier of the common intellect. In K. Becker & F. Stalder (Eds.), Deep search: The politics of search beyond Google (pp. 152–162). London: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pasquinelli, M. (2015). Italian Operaismo and the information machine. Theory, Culture & Society, 32(3), 49–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smythe, D. W. (1981/2006). On the audience commodity and its work. In M. G. Durham & D. Kellner (Eds.), Media and cultural studies: Key works (Rev. ed., pp. 230–256) Malden/Oxford/Victoria: Blackwell Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, F. (2009). Burning man at Google: A cultural infrastructure for new media production. New Media & Society, 11(1&2), 73–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Couvering, E. (2007). Is relevance relevant? Market, science, and war: Discourses of search engine quality. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(3), 866–887.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department for Culture and Communication, Institute for Development and International Relations, Zagreb, Croatia

    Paško Bilić

Authors
  1. Paško Bilić
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department for Culture and Communication, Institute for Development and International Relations, Zagreb, Croatia

    Paško Bilić

  2. Department for Culture and Communication, Institute for Development and International Relations, Zagreb, Croatia

    Jaka Primorac

  3. Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Bjarki Valtýsson

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Bilić, P. (2018). The Production of Algorithms and the Cultural Politics of Web Search. In: Bilić , P., Primorac, J., Valtýsson, B. (eds) Technologies of Labour and the Politics of Contradiction. Dynamics of Virtual Work. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76279-1_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76279-1_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76278-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76279-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation