Research

Postdoctoral Research

Abstract

A Taste for the Few: Elite Networks and the Co-Production of Symbolic and Economic Value in the Contemporary Art Market

This project examines how elite networks govern value in the contemporary art market by simultaneously producing symbolic legitimacy and economic stratification. Drawing on large-scale data from primary and secondary art markets between 2015 and 2025, the study reconstructs the relational architecture through which artists, galleries, auction houses, aesthetic meanings, and market settings interact to produce a deeply stratified field. Using the post-pandemic period (2020–2022) as a theoretically motivated stress-test (marked by speculative price acceleration, rapid flipping, and the ultra-contemporary segment’s breakout) the project asks: does network structure explain who consolidates symbolic and economic position after market rupture, and who declines? Methodologically, the project advances an integrated computational pipeline combining Large Language Models (LLMs) for data extraction and structuring, Structural Topic Models (STM) for mapping semantic space, and Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGM) and Multilevel Exponential Random Graph Models (MERGM) for modeling relational structure.

Keywords: Cultural Elites, Cultural Influence, Art Markets, Multilevel Networks, Socio-Semantic Networks, Computational Social Science

Research Questions

This project is organized around two interrelated questions:

Structural Power and Cultural Influence: What is the relational architecture of the contemporary art market? How are artists, galleries, auction houses, fairs, and aesthetic discourses connected, and what structural positions confer disproportionate influence over valuation?
Network Dynamics: How did the post-pandemic speculative rupture (2020–2022) reshape that structure? Who consolidated position and who was displaced — and does network centrality predict survival after the correction (2023–2025)?

Sponsorship

This research is supported by the National Research and Development Agency of Chile (ANID) through FONDECYT grant N°3260037, and developed in collaboration with the School of Government at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez and the Millennium Institute for Foundational Research on Data (IMFD).

Collaborations

I have collaborated on interdisciplinary research projects in sustainability science, social inequality and stratification, and cultural consumption (2019-2024):

SNA-SES - Socio-ecological Sustainability Networks

Research Assistant and Co-author

This research project analyzes the generation of scientific knowledge for socio-ecological sustainability (SKSES) in Latin America over the past 30 years. The study focuses on the structuring of scientific networks, encompassing both expert and non-expert actors. Methodologically, the research addresses field configuration using a scientometric approach, which combines two-mode network analysis and structural topic modeling on big data sources. Led by Dr. Julien Van Hulst, this project is sponsored by the National Research and Development Agency in Chile (FONDECYT N°1220560, Chile).

Keywords: Sustainability Science, Sociology of Science, Social Network Analysis, Structural Semantic Analysis.

Inequality of Outcomes and Opportunities

Research Assistant

The project examines the distinct causal effects of exposure to inequality of opportunity and inequality of outcomes on (i) beliefs about the causes of inequality and perceptions of economic fairness and (ii) the propensity to cooperate and redistribute. Methodologically, the research relies on a series of large-scale online experiments that randomly expose individuals to artificial, society-like environments with varying levels of outcome and opportunity inequality. This approach allows the project to circumvent the limitations of previous observational and experimental research by recreating and manipulating exposure to different types of inequality in the lab. Led by Dr. Mauricio Bucca, this project is sponsored by the National Research and Development Agency in Chile (FONDECYT N°11221171, Chile).

Keywords: Social Inequality, Stratification, Causal Inference, Field Experiments.

More than Stories: Network Dynamics in Reading Clubs

Co-author

The research explores the network composition of reading clubs across Santiago de Chile’s segregated urban areas. Combining both quantitative and qualitative data collection, the analysis aims to describe the formation mechanisms within the inter-organizational space of cultural group identities. The main hypothesis to be tested is whether aesthetic affinities can bridge socioeconomic differences allowing social cohesion and network density. Co-authored with Dr. James Staig Limidoro, this research is sponsored by the National Fund for Literature and Reading Promotion (Fondo del Libro N°215532, Chile).

Keywords: Cultural Sociology, Cultural Homophilly, Social Network Analysis, Discourse Analysis.