The Ideological and Subjective Dimension of the Platformization of Social Life

Abstract

The article participates in a trend identified by Thomas Poell, David Nieborg and José van Dijck, who point out a movement in the academy from a discussion of platforms as “things” to an analysis of platformisation as a process. In this framework, the paper constitutes a theoretical
reflection that investigates the ideological and subjective dimension of platformisation. Its thesis is that in order to advance in the explanation of the subjective processes of platforms, it is necessary to resort to the Althusserian theory of ideology, in articulation with researches that
propose the concepts of “algorithmic governmentality” and “profiling”. The article focuses on the theoretical relevance of three fundamental categories of the Althusserian approach - ideological State apparatus, ideology and interpellation- to think about platformisation. From the analysis of platforms such as Change.org, Tinder and BeReal, it is concluded that in the
processes of platformisation, through ideological forms and modalities of interpellation that have their own specificity, novel rituals of ideological recognition are formed that intervene in the guarantee that every subject needs about his or her singularity. In this way, algorithmic
coding and ideological interpellation take place in the same movement on the platforms.