From Kulturkampf to Clickbait: A Genealogy Study of Culture Wars

The new media landscape and social dynamics have altered the mechanisms of social functioning. This interplay has evolved culture wars from the traditional framework into the new culture wars. This paper aims to examine the interaction between culture wars and social media platforms. It also seeks to provide an extensive literature analysis on the relationship between the two, underlining the impact of Artificial Intelligence algorithms in fueling these clashes. Grounded on Michel Foucault’s genealogical framework (1977; 1980) and Reinhart Koselleck (2004), this paper utilized critical and conceptual-historical paradigms as a methodology to explore this complex relationship by a diachronic analysis and synthesis of scholarly materials. The main conclusions show an overlook in the manifestation of cultural conflicts in the platform and post-truth eras. It indicates that social networking sites have renovated the scale and immediacy of cultural conflicts. Furthermore, AI algorithms and misinformation have worsened the situation. Due to these new players, new societal phenomena emerged to the surface such as cancel culture. This paper makes a significant contribution to the global and local discussions on platform conflicts and social change through exploring the role AI-algorithms and social media platforms play in shifting public discourse and social dynamics from the organized mediation to blurred chaos.