Computational Approaches to the Study of Cultural Markets and Social Dynamics

Aim

After completion of the course, the student should at an advanced level be able to:

• describe and analyze the market constraints and coping strategies of actors in cultural industries
• assess the roles and importance of intermediaries positioned between producers and consumers in cultural markets
• dissect and explain consumer behavior in fast-paced and socially visible market settings
• apply theories and formal models of peer influence and social diffusion
• critically discuss the current state of empirical research on cultural markets
• evaluate the application of statistical, mathematical, and computational methods to research on cultural markets

Content

This course is about cultural markets and their dynamics. Cultural markets are constituted by sets of actors, including interconnected producers, consumers and intermediaries, who are embedded in systems of exchange involving cultural goods, such as books, music, movies, etc. Actors who participate in cultural markets are differentiated, and the strategies they use to navigate these markets are analyzed. The course frames cultural markets as valuable testing grounds for theories of socially influenced behavior prone to complex collective dynamics and hard-to-predict outcomes. Classical and contemporary theories of cultural production and/or consumption are employed and evaluated. This includes the application of formal models and statistical techniques from social diffusion research. Content will especially focus on state-of-the-art research using computational methods to study peer influence and social dynamics in cultural markets and consumer markets more generally.