Recommendation Systems and Cultural Production in the Age of Consumer Capitalism

The following paper consists of an analysis of the history of literary recommendation systems as they pertain to the field of cultural production as defined by Pierre Bourdieu. This paper argues that visible in the history of recommendation systems is a shift in value regarding cultural capital and social capital. Whereas recommendation systems in the form of cultural prizes operated primarily in the distribution of cultural capital, the emergence of Oprah's Book Club marked a transition to the valuation of social capital over cultural capital. This transition was further marked by the role of Amazon.com as the largest bookseller and their data driven recommendation system constructed through analysis of individual's shopping habits. The trend of social capital, rather than cultural capital, shaping field of cultural production is indicative of a cultural populism that is rooted in the assumption that any given person is capable of determining the value of an art object without the assistance of guiding institutions.