This dissertation investigates the highly computed and accelerated experiences of digital love as well as their cultural and artistic representations in order to shed light on the human and more-than-human entanglements producing the algorithmic love experience. The recent turn to love in critical theory and cultural studies examines how love circulates in neoliberal societies and in the subjective processes of the users, foregrounding the control of populations and the very much lamented “end of love” (Illouz 2019). My study of love supplements the neoliberalist critique of algorithmic love with a posthuman and media theory approach that attends to the material capacities of digital technologies reorganizing the love experience. Refusing simply to reassert the ‘naturalness’ of love outside dating apps, my project offers a more complex paradigm that accounts for the restructuring time, the body, or human subjectivity in the algorithmic love condition, legitimizing the digital experience and exploring new avenues for “inhabiting” romantic platforms differently (Chun 2016).
Holding the tension between the neoliberalist character and the liberatory potential of digital hypermediation, I ground my intervention in the melancholic critique and against the nostalgic attachment of critical theory and sociology to the modern subject in love: by pointing at the shortcomings of sociological literature when studying feelings, satisfaction, or algorithmic romance today (Chapter 2), by deconstructing notions of nature and interrogating the nature-artificial, human-machine binary and possibilities of posthuman embodiment (Chapter 3), and by delving into feminist philosophies of computation in an exploration of the discourse around Large Language Models and what it means for our understanding of love as an algorithmic force (Chapter 4). Two interludes offer a media analysis of the algorithmic love discourse in both popular TV shows and mainstream news outlets to offer a mixed-media approach to how the algorithmic love discourse is sustained and circulates in the popular imaginary.
","abstract_html":"<p>This dissertation investigates the highly computed and accelerated experiences of digital love as well as their cultural and artistic representations in order to shed light on the human and more-than-human entanglements producing the algorithmic love experience. The recent turn to love in critical theory and cultural studies examines how love circulates in neoliberal societies and in the subjective processes of the users, foregrounding the control of populations and the very much lamented “end of love” (Illouz 2019). My study of love supplements the neoliberalist critique of algorithmic love with a posthuman and media theory approach that attends to the material capacities of digital technologies reorganizing the love experience. Refusing simply to reassert the ‘naturalness’ of love outside dating apps, my project offers a more complex paradigm that accounts for the restructuring time, the body, or human subjectivity in the algorithmic love condition, legitimizing the digital experience and exploring new avenues for “inhabiting” romantic platforms differently (Chun 2016).</p> <p>Holding the tension between the neoliberalist character and the liberatory potential of digital hypermediation, I ground my intervention in the melancholic critique and against the nostalgic attachment of critical theory and sociology to the modern subject in love: by pointing at the shortcomings of sociological literature when studying feelings, satisfaction, or algorithmic romance today (Chapter 2), by deconstructing notions of nature and interrogating the nature-artificial, human-machine binary and possibilities of posthuman embodiment (Chapter 3), and by delving into feminist philosophies of computation in an exploration of the discourse around Large Language Models and what it means for our understanding of love as an algorithmic force (Chapter 4). Two interludes offer a media analysis of the algorithmic love discourse in both popular TV shows and mainstream news outlets to offer a mixed-media approach to how the algorithmic love discourse is sustained and circulates in the popular imaginary.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Moyano Ariza, Sandra"],"institution":"The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York","degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy","degree_level":"Doctoral","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Karl Steel"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":["Patricia T. Clough","Matthew K. Gold"],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-02-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-02-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:58:31Z","subjects":["Communication Technology and New Media","Continental Philosophy","Critical and Cultural Studies","Digital Humanities","Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies","Feminist Philosophy","Gender and Sexuality","Other Arts and Humanities","Other Film and Media Studies","Science and Technology Studies","Social Media","Theory, Knowledge and Science","algorithmic love","posthumanism","media studies","affect","more-than-human","digital technology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5661","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Karl Steel"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Patricia T. 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The recent turn to love in critical theory and cultural studies examines how love circulates in neoliberal societies and in the subjective processes of the users, foregrounding the control of populations and the very much lamented “end of love” (Illouz 2019). My study of love supplements the neoliberalist critique of algorithmic love with a posthuman and media theory approach that attends to the material capacities of digital technologies reorganizing the love experience. Refusing simply to reassert the ‘naturalness’ of love outside dating apps, my project offers a more complex paradigm that accounts for the restructuring time, the body, or human subjectivity in the algorithmic love condition, legitimizing the digital experience and exploring new avenues for “inhabiting” romantic platforms differently (Chun 2016).
Holding the tension between the neoliberalist character and the liberatory potential of digital hypermediation, I ground my intervention in the melancholic critique and against the nostalgic attachment of critical theory and sociology to the modern subject in love: by pointing at the shortcomings of sociological literature when studying feelings, satisfaction, or algorithmic romance today (Chapter 2), by deconstructing notions of nature and interrogating the nature-artificial, human-machine binary and possibilities of posthuman embodiment (Chapter 3), and by delving into feminist philosophies of computation in an exploration of the discourse around Large Language Models and what it means for our understanding of love as an algorithmic force (Chapter 4). Two interludes offer a media analysis of the algorithmic love discourse in both popular TV shows and mainstream news outlets to offer a mixed-media approach to how the algorithmic love discourse is sustained and circulates in the popular imaginary.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Algorithmic Love: Twenty-First Century Organizations of the Romantic"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Karl Steel"],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Patricia T. Clough","Matthew K. Gold"],"dc:creator":["Moyano Ariza, Sandra"],"dc:date.available":["2026-02-01T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This dissertation investigates the highly computed and accelerated experiences of digital love as well as their cultural and artistic representations in order to shed light on the human and more-than-human entanglements producing the algorithmic love experience. The recent turn to love in critical theory and cultural studies examines how love circulates in neoliberal societies and in the subjective processes of the users, foregrounding the control of populations and the very much lamented “end of love” (Illouz 2019). My study of love supplements the neoliberalist critique of algorithmic love with a posthuman and media theory approach that attends to the material capacities of digital technologies reorganizing the love experience. Refusing simply to reassert the ‘naturalness’ of love outside dating apps, my project offers a more complex paradigm that accounts for the restructuring time, the body, or human subjectivity in the algorithmic love condition, legitimizing the digital experience and exploring new avenues for “inhabiting” romantic platforms differently (Chun 2016).
Holding the tension between the neoliberalist character and the liberatory potential of digital hypermediation, I ground my intervention in the melancholic critique and against the nostalgic attachment of critical theory and sociology to the modern subject in love: by pointing at the shortcomings of sociological literature when studying feelings, satisfaction, or algorithmic romance today (Chapter 2), by deconstructing notions of nature and interrogating the nature-artificial, human-machine binary and possibilities of posthuman embodiment (Chapter 3), and by delving into feminist philosophies of computation in an exploration of the discourse around Large Language Models and what it means for our understanding of love as an algorithmic force (Chapter 4). Two interludes offer a media analysis of the algorithmic love discourse in both popular TV shows and mainstream news outlets to offer a mixed-media approach to how the algorithmic love discourse is sustained and circulates in the popular imaginary.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5661"],"dc:subject":["Communication Technology and New Media","Continental Philosophy","Critical and Cultural Studies","Digital Humanities","Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies","Feminist Philosophy","Gender and Sexuality","Other Arts and Humanities","Other Film and Media Studies","Science and Technology Studies","Social Media","Theory, Knowledge and Science","algorithmic love","posthumanism","media studies","affect","more-than-human","digital technology"],"dc:title":["Algorithmic Love: Twenty-First Century Organizations of the Romantic"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English"],"thesis:degree_level":["Doctoral"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy"],"thesis:institution_name":["The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:58:31Z"}