The algorithmic spectacles and other curated content, this book argued, are further evocative of cultures in the anthropological sense of the word. The book navigated the values, emotions, socialities, and, generally, the cultural dimensions of platform curating by following it in a diverse range of sites. I discussed some of the behavioral, stylistic, and larger anthropological traits which platform curating mediates in public spheres, indicatively reflexivity (Chapter 3), coolness (Chapter 4), authenticity (Chapter 5), and inspiration (Chapter 6). To return to Adorno, to whom we referred to at the beginning of the book, it is not that these cultures did not exist before but that these cultures assume a widespread canonization with the advent of digital platforms. Coolness, as we saw, is a posture and stylistic ritual of banal luxury around the Balenciaga–Vetements–Demna complex. Before the emergence of platform connectivity, coolness was a posture principally associated with mass culture, such as jazz music or Levi jeans, and less to high fashion, as the latter would mostly privilege traits such as elegance, exclusivity, and sophistication. The mere availability of platform infrastructures mobilizes luxury brands to relate to forms of popular culture, such as coolness, as they need media engagements, followers, and visibility; luxury fashion pursues high and low cross-promotions to curate brand connectivities before a globa audience well versed in memes, films, art, music, and even cultural theory. I explored coolness, authenticity, and inspiration in respect to specific areas, namely fashion, food, and life coaching, however these cultures co-exist and overlap over the whole platform economy. For instance, together with its hyper-conceptual outlook, the banal luxury complex also displays some of the other cultural tropes I discussed, such as authenticity (e.g., a commitment to the values of the brand), reflexivity (e.g., the ethical brand positionings vis-à-vis fast fashion), and inspiration (e.g., Demna posing as visionary guru). Or food authenticity, which in curated gastronomy mobilizes figures like a local grandmother for gaining symbolic capital, can overlap with cultures of coolness (e.g., the counterintuitive selection of rare ingredients), reflexivity (e.g., the awareness that the food industry exploits animals and environment), and inspiration (e.g., the promotion of figure of the visionary chef). In this sense, the cultures this book discusses can be understood as varyingly present all over the spectrum of platform capitalism.
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Cultures of Platform Capitalism