European inventory of
societal values of culture

Ytre-Arne & Moe - Folk theories of algorithms

Ytre-Arne, B., & Moe, H. (2021). Folk theories of algorithms: Understanding digital irritation. Media, Culture & Society, 43(5): 807–824.

This article draws on the framework of “folk theories” to analyze how people perceive algorithms in the media. Taking algorithms as a prime case to investigate how people respond to datafication in everyday media use, the authors ask how people perceive positive and negative consequences of algorithms. To answer this question, they conduct qualitative thematic analysis of open-ended answers from a 2019 representative survey among Norwegians, identifying five folk theories: algorithms are confining, practical, reductive, intangible, and exploitative. Authors situate the analysis in relation to different application of folk theory approaches, and discuss their findings in light of emerging work on perceptions of algorithms and critiques of datafication, including the concept digital resignation. They conclude that rather than resignation, digital irritation emerges as a central emotional response, with a small but significant potential to inspire future political action against datafication.