Machine Learning and the Analysis of Culture

Abstract

The focus of this chapter is on how machine learning (ML) affects the analysis of culture in sociology. It shows how ML has greatly advanced the analysis of culture with new tools that enable a massive, fine-grained extraction of information from textual and audiovisual troves as well as data analysis to operationalize long-standing cultural sociology concepts. It also indicates that this renewed interest is building on already fertile ground, as sociologists of culture have long used and reflected on formal models when analyzing culture. The chapter suggests that as the toolbox of ML approaches expands, so will the need for methodological reflection on the datasets and algorithms used, analyzed, and interpreted. The chapter also suggests that ML techniques can serve as catalysts for generating new theoretical insights. The chapter’s conclusion discusses the potential of ML research to generate new theoretical insights abductively and advocates for methodological reflexivity.