Vice Media’s Habitus
Introduction
In society there are different ways for an individual to behave and act regarding specific social systems and structures, according to Pierre Bourdieu (1977). Bourdieu argues that individuals act, behave and think, unconsciously, in different ways in regard to what the individual is habituated to: school, work, friends or family (Gillespie, 2019). These social structures present particular ways in which a person should act: it helps to construct their world view and their “apperception” of the world they wish to exist in, thus constructing a Habitus (Bourdieu, 1977).
Although no theorists have strictly related Bourfieu’s Habitus theory to social media online, the theory still applies to online communities: Habitus is the process in the making and changing of societies which form different cultural spheres (Giulianotti, 2004). An individual’s Habitus, online, is uniquely created by their personal background and experiences. An individual brings their personal Habitus (how they act and feel when not influenced by society) into social media to create an alternate Habitus online (Costa and Murphy, 2015), although still influenced by various online elements.
This theory will be analysed in relation to the key influencer: Vice media. Understanding this theory in relation to research findings will help to understand the specific ways in which users behave and interact with Vice’s content, on the platform YouTube. Furthermore, it will uncover how Vice behaves within YouTube, and whether they conform to the Habitus of social media. The opportunity to investigate whether Vice has created their own Habitus would also help to see how they exert their influence online.
The YouTube Habitus
YouTube is no exception to Bourdieu’s Habitus theory when it is applied to social media. The ways in which users interact with content on the site, structures the users individual Habitus. Their Habitus is reinforced by algorithms which suggest videos they are most likely to watch, when observing their viewing habits (Barnhart, 2019). When researching the behaviour of YouTubes primary target audience, young adults, it showed that they prefer short-term content (Hayes, 2019). Furthermore, young adults are more likely to view news and human-interest stories, 62% of these viewers are then likely to take action (Hayes, 2019). These YouTube habits align with the type of content Vice produces onto their channel, they aim to create meaningful content in order to construct a habitus which supports and advances society and inspires users to take action.
When people interact with YouTubes affordances they are contributing to a habitus created by a community of users. Each community behaves and acts in different ways, regarding the content they are viewing, for example: the popular “Colors” channel posts content on live performances from artists to promote their songs to a wider audience. This channel acts as a catalyst for music discussion, thus contributing to their unique Habitus, which varies on the genre and artist (Waldron, 2013). People reacting to Denzel Curry’s single “Diet_”, on the channel, preach support for the artist and his talent (YouTube, 2020).
YouTube advances Bourdieu’s Habitus theory into an online community where people interact and behave in differing ways in regards to the content they are viewing, and what is socially acceptable within these communities (Jebabli et al., 2015). By investigating Vice’s own habitus, it will present the ways in which Vice behaves with its viewers and how they attain the ‘key influencer’ status through communicating with its audience.
Vice Media’s Habitus
Vice relishes its audience interaction, while not specifically communicating with their viewers, they produce content on current trends which appeal to their largely, millennial audience. This then forms an extensive habitus in which people can behave and act in various ways in relation to the content produced (Bourdieu, 1977).
Vice Media’s YouTube channel is an example of an online habitus. The type of content they post usually determines the behaviour and actions in the comments section. Vice’s mission statement says it aims to educate and enlighten viewers on niche subjects from around the world (Vice, 2020), this statement does correlate to the type of content they produce, this therefore forms an academic-like habitus in which viewers comment with their thoughts and reactions from the posted content, this is shown through both figure 2 and figure 3.
It could be stated that Vice Media employs gonzo journalism style content, they take on a much more personal approach in their produced videos and often use sarcasm and humor in videos that are not considered serious issues (Mosser, 2012). This therefore sets a tone towards their viewers and defines their behaviour and actions when interacting with the content via social media. Comments often use sarcasm and humor, often the ‘funniest’ comments are the most liked, for example the top comment on the video “From Paradise to Hell: Trapped at a Music Festival Because of COVID-19” was “”at first it was like paradise, then we ran out of drugs”” (YouTube, 2020), this received 2.5 thousand likes, this presents a contrasting habitus to the aforementioned “The College Athlete Running For Murdered Indigenous Women” which took on a much more serious tone amongst viewers. While the subject of the video is serious and reveals the reality of living with COVID-19, commenters often joke about, particularly, the people seen on screen. This type of reaction was predetermined by Vice’s own behaviour. Being a much more informal ‘news’ outlet compared to others of the like, they invite this type of behaviour into their Habitus.
By producing content on different topics, these individual videos therefore create individual Habitus. This is key to their success as a key influencer amongst their subscribers and viewers, by creating content on varying topics, they encompass trends amongst all age groups, creating a social habitus which viewers are likely to return to and absorb information into their own individual Habitus (Costa and Murphy, 2015).
Reference list:
Barnhart, B. (2019) Everything you need to know about social media algorithms Socialsprout. [Online][Accessed 27/12/20] Everything You Need to Know About Social Media Algorithms | Sprout Social
Bourdieu, P. (1977) Outline of a Theory of Practice. 1st edition., London: Cambridge University Press
Costa, C. and Murphy, M. (2015) Bourdieu, Habitus and Social Research: The Art of Application. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gillespie, L. (2019) Pierre Bourdieu: Habitus. Critical Legal Thinking. [Online][Accessed 27/12/20] Pierre Bourdieu: Habitus (criticallegalthinking.com)
Giulianotti, R. (2004) Sport and Modern Social Theorists. New York: Springer.
Hayes, D (2019) YouTube User Statistics By Generation. The Shelf. [Online][Accessed 27/12/20] YouTube User Statistics by Generation — The Shelf Full-Funnel Influencer Marketing
Jebabli, M., Cherifi, H., Cherifi, C. and Hamouda, A. (2015) ‘User and group networks on YouTube: A comparative analysis’. In Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. 12th International Conference of Computer Systems and Applications. University of Tunis El Manar ,Marrakech, 17–20 November 2015. Marrakech: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, pp. 1–8
Mosser, J. (2012) ‘What’s Gonzo about Gonzo Journalism?’ Literary Journalism Studies, 4(1) pp. 85–90.
Vice. (2020) The Vice Guide To Vice. [Online][Accessed on 20/11/20] https://viceguideto.vice.com/
Waldron, J. (2013) ‘User-generated content, YouTube and participatory culture on the Web: music learning and teaching in two contrasting online communities’. Music Education Research, 15(3) pp. 257–274.
YouTube. (2020) Colors. [Online][Accessed 15/12/20] COLORS — YouTube
YouTube. (2020) Vice. [Online][Accessed 15/12/20] https://www.youtube.com/c/VICE/videos
