Algorithms and platforms in the competitive CrossFit field: two case studies

Journal title SOCIOLOGIA DELLA COMUNICAZIONE
Author/s Mario de Benedittis
Publishing Year 2024 Issue 2023/66
Language Italian Pages 17 P. 112-128 File size 290 KB
DOI 10.3280/SC2023-066007
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

Through two case studies resulting from a multi-year enactive ethnography on competitive CrossFit, the paper analyzes the close relationship between the sportification process of CrossFit and the role of algorithms that are developed and used within the field. Drawing from a Bourdieusian perspective, the paper will be devoted understanding the dynamics that invest the creation and use of platforms and algorithms within the practice of competitive CrossFit and the social field that is being institutionalized around it. We will focus on two areas of practice: one related to automated workout management and the other to the ranking and management of CrossFit competition entry.

Keywords: algorithms; crossfit; social fields; sportification; Bourdieu; enactive ethnography.

  1. Abidin C. (2020), Mapping Internet Celebrity on TikTok: Exploring Attention Economies and Visibility Labours. «Cultural Science Journal», 12(1), pp. 77-103.
  2. Aragona B., Felaco C. (2020), Understanding algorithms. Spaces, expert communities and cultural artifacts, «Etnografia e ricerca qualitativa», 3, pp. 423-439.
  3. Bailey B., Benson A.J., Bruner M. (2019), Investigating the Organisational Culture of CrossFit., «International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology» 17 (3), pp. 197-211.
  4. Bishop S (2019), Managing visibility on YouTube through algorithmic gossip. «New Media & Society» 21(11-12), pp. 2589-2606.
  5. Bonifacio F. (2023), Fare il rider. Pratiche, saperi e traiettorie di una professione emergente, Mimesis, Milano.
  6. Bonifacio F., de Benedittis M. (2022), Riding different. Una topologia sociale dei rider del food delivery, «Sociologia del lavoro», 163, pp. 149-170.
  7. Bonini T., Gandini A. (2019), “First Week Is Editorial, Second Week Is Algorithmic”: Platform Gatekeepers and the Platformization of Music Curation, «Social Media + Society», 5(4).
  8. Bonini T., Gandini A. (2020), The Field as a Black Box: Ethnographic Research in the Age of Platforms, «Social Media + Society», 6(4).
  9. Bourdieu P. (1980), Questions de sociologie, Minuit, Paris.
  10. Bourdieu P. (1995), Ragioni pratiche. Sulla teoria dell’azione, Il Mulino, Bologna.
  11. Bourdieu P. (2016), Sociologie générale vol. 2, Seuil, Paris.
  12. Bucher T. (2016), The algorithmic imaginary: exploring the ordinary affects of Facebook algorithms, «Information, Communication & Society», 20 (1), pp. 30-44.
  13. Caliandro A., Anselmi G. (2021), Affordances-based brand relations: An inquire on memetic brands on Instagram, «Social Media+ Society», 7(2).
  14. Collinet C., Delalandre M., Schut P., Lessard C. (2013), Physical Practices and Sportification: Between Institutionalisation and Standardisation. The Example of Three Activities in France, «The International Journal of the History of Sport», 30, pp. 1007-989.
  15. Cotter K. (2022), Practical knowledge of algorithms: The case of BreadTube, «New Media and society», 0 (0).
  16. Duffy B. E., Poell T., Nieborg, D. B. (2019). Platform practices in the cultural industries: Creativity, labor, and citizenship, «Social Media+ Society», 5 (4).
  17. Hadamache K., Brabet, J. (2014), Rethinking institutional entrepreneurship. The case of the construction of the orphan drug field in Europe, «Society and Business Review» 9 (2), pp. 139-152.
  18. Heywood L. (2015), The Crossfit Sensorium: Visuality, Affect and Immersive Sport,
  19. «Paragraph» 38 (1), pp. 20-36.
  20. Hoffman A. (1999), Institutional evolution and change: environmentalism and the U.S. chemical industry, «Academy of Management Journal», 42 (4) pp. 351-371.
  21. Introna L.D. (2016), Algorithms, Governance, and Governmentality: On Governing Academic Writing, «Science, Technology, & Human Values», 41 (1) pp. 17-49.
  22. James E.P. e Gill R. (2018), Neoliberalism and the Communicative Labor of CrossFit, «Communication & Sport» 6 (6), pp. 703-727.
  23. Lee M.K (2018), Understanding perception of algorithmic decisions: Fairness, trust, and emotion in response to algorithmic management, «Big Data & Society» 5 (1).
  24. Nieborg D. B., Duffy, B. E., Poell, T. (2020), Studying platforms and cultural production: Methods, institutions, and practices. «Social Media+ Society», 6 (3)
  25. Powers D., Greenwell D.M. (2017), Branded Fitness: Exercise and Promotional culture, «Journal of Consumer Culture» 17 (3), pp. 523-541.
  26. Quidu, M. (2022), La participation observante de Loïc Wacquant comme nouvelle doxa méthodologique dans les recherches en sciences sociales sur les sports de combat?, Loisir et Société, 45 (2), pp. 218-242.
  27. Risi E., Bonini T., Pronzato R. (2020), Algorithmic media in everyday life. An experience with auto-ethnographic student diaries «Etnografia e ricerca qualitativa», 3, pp. 407-422.
  28. Roberge J., Seyfert R. (2016), What Are Algorithmic Cultures?, in R. Seyfert, J. Roberge, (Eds.), Algorithmic Cultures. Essays on meaning, performance and new technologies, Routledge, London.
  29. Schellewald A. (2022), Theorizing “Stories About Algorithms” as a Mechanism in the Formation and Maintenance of Algorithmic Imaginaries «Social Media + Society» January-March 2022: 1- 10.
  30. Schuilenburg M., Peeters R. (2021), The Algorithmic Society: Technology, Power, and Knowledge, Routledge, London.
  31. Seaver N. (2017), Algorithms as culture: Some tactics for the ethnography of algorithmic systems. «Big data & society», 4 (2).
  32. Siles I., J. Espinoza-Rojas A. Naranjo M.F. (2019), The Mutual Domestication of Users and Algorithmic Recommendations on Netflix, «Communication, Culture & Critique», 12 (4), pp. 499-518.
  33. Smith Maguire J. (2008), Fit for Consumption. Sociology and the Business of Fitness, Routledge, London.
  34. Striphas T. (2015), Algorithmic Culture, «European Journal of Cultural Studies», 18, (4-5), pp. 395-412.
  35. Swart J. (2021), Experiencing Algorithms: How Young People Understand, Feel About, and Engage with Algorithmic News Selection on Social Media, «Social Media+ Society», 7 (2).
  36. Wacquant L. (2014), Putting Habitus in its Place: Rejoinder to the Symposium, «Body and Society», 20 (2), pp.118-139.
  37. Wacquant L. (2015), For a Sociology of Flesh and Blood, «Qualitative Sociology», 38 (1), pp.1-11.
  38. Wheaton B. (2013), The Cultural Politics of Lifestyle Sports, Routledge, New York.
  39. Willson M. (2017), Algorithms (and the) every day, «Information, Communication & Society», 20 (1), pp. 137-150.

Mario de Benedittis, Algoritmi e piattaforme nel CrossFit competitivo: due studi di caso in "SOCIOLOGIA DELLA COMUNICAZIONE " 66/2023, pp 112-128, DOI: 10.3280/SC2023-066007