As a concept proposed by by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer in Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), the cultural industry refers to the transformation of cultural production into a form of large-scale industrial production under capitalism (Throsby, 2008). From a media perspective, the cultural industry has transcended the traditional scope of cultural product production and evolved into a meaning production system driven by media technology and carried by content (Lawrence and Phillips, 2002). Research by Mesoudi and Whiten (2008) indicates that media is not only a conduit for cultural transmission but also a core arena for cultural practice in modern society.
Inside a glass-walled building in Seoul, dozens of screens simultaneously play the same dance video, with young people from around the world replicating the same moves via social media. This is a glimpse into the daily life of the K-pop factory, and a microcosm of the contemporary media and cultural industry. When we open our phones, the first video pushed to us is likely a dance challenge by a K-pop idol. Media is not only a transmitter of culture, but also a shaper of culture (Throsby, 2004), redefining how we perceive the world in the digital age. Media no longer merely reflects reality, but actively constructs our perception of reality. The global rise of K-pop is a prime example of this new cultural industry model.
From Content to Dissemination Structure
The core of the cultural industry lies not in the cultural products themselves, but in how these products are constructed, disseminated, and consumed through media. Cultural products possess strong symbolic qualities, achieving large-scale replication, cross-regional dissemination, and emotional connection through media technology. Especially in the social media era, cultural content is not only passively disseminated but also forms participatory culture through user re-creation and secondary processing, continuously strengthening the expansion capabilities of the cultural industry.
K-pop’s globalization is a typical example of media-driven diffusion. Music, dance, and styling content transcend national borders through digital platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. According to an official X report (2022), #KpopTwitter reached 7.8 billion tweets globally. It can be argued that fan participation and derivative videos on social media further propel K-pop into a cross-media narrative system, making its cultural influence far exceed that of the music industry alone.
When Traffic Becomes the Judge of Culture
In the media-driven K-pop industry, click-through rates have become the sole criterion for measuring cultural value, leading to a series of ethical issues. Idol groups are forced to pursue increasingly extreme concepts and images to remain competitive in the attention economy. In 2023, several newly debuted girl groups chose a violent and sexy route, with lyrics and dance moves sparking widespread controversy, but this was precisely a media event deliberately designed by production companies to gain attention. Even more worrying is that media platforms, through algorithms, are invisibly shaping homogenized cultural patterns. YouTube’s recommendation system favors fast-paced and visually stimulating content, leading to the marginalization of mild and complex cultural expressions. The culture we consume is increasingly becoming a result of algorithmic optimization.
Conclusion
K-pop is both a successful example of cultural globalization and a cautionary tale of culture being colonized by the logic of capital and technology. It demonstrates how the media can endow culture with unprecedented power of dissemination, while also revealing the potential cost when culture completely succumbs to media logic. Culture should not merely be content transmitted by the media, but rather a force resisting technological alienation.
References
Lawrence, T. B., and Phillips, N. (2002). Understanding cultural industries. Journal of management inquiry, 11(4), pp.430-441.
Mesoudi, A., and Whiten, A. (2008). The multiple roles of cultural transmission experiments in understanding human cultural evolution. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 363(1509), pp. 3489-3501.
Throsby, D. (2004). Assessing the impacts of a cultural industry. The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society, 34(3), pp.188-204.
Throsby, D. (2008). Modelling the cultural industries. International journal of cultural policy, 14(3), pp.217-232.
YeonJeong Kim.(2022). #KpopTwitter reaches new heights with 7.8 billion global Tweets. Available at: https://blog.x.com/en_sea/topics/insights/2022/kpoptwitter-reaches-new-heights-with-7-8-billion-global-tweets (Accessed on 15th November, 2025)
