A Structuralist Framework for Digital Sociology: Algorithmic Myths, Rituals, and Exchanges

Authors : Nuriye Çelik

Pages : 100-121

Doi:10.55609/yenimedya.1771512

View : 115 | Download : 578

Publication Date : 2025-12-23

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This study aims to adapt Claude Lévi-Strauss’s structuralist approach to the digital context in order to understand the cultural dynamics of the digital society. Digitalization has created a new socio-technical order through algorithms, platform logics, and data-driven processes that shape areas ranging from social relations to meaning-making. The concepts of myth, ritual, and exchange proposed by Lévi-Strauss are examined alongside unique digital examples (e.g., QAnon, the Blue Whale game, Flat Earth communities). The research adopts a theoretical-interpretive design based on secondary sources and media data, conducting thematic analysis through three main codes: binary oppositions, narrative transformation, and algorithmic visibility. Findings indicate that digital myths symbolically organize societal anxieties, rituals (likes, hashtags, challenges) function as tools for belonging and identity construction, and digital exchange (likes, follows, data sharing) is reshaped by platforms’ algorithmic selectivity. The study demonstrates that a structuralist framework offers a meaningful and productive tool for analysing digital society, though new dynamics -such as algorithms, the attention economy, and platform economies -add further layers to this approach. It highlights the interdisciplinary potential of structuralism for enriching digital sociology and suggests that future research should integrate the technical dimensions of algorithms into this framework.
Keywords : Dijital Toplum, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Algoritmik Mitler, Ritüel, Mübadele.

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