Roberto Velázquez-Quiroz

Roberto Velázquez-Quiroz

Ph.D. candidate in Sociology (UC Chile). I study the social and cultural forces structuring the production of art and science. I use computational and statistical techniques to observe the emerging properties of social fields.

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Pages

Posts

Future Blog Post

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Blog Post number 4

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Blog Post number 3

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Blog Post number 2

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Blog Post number 1

less than 1 minute read

Published:

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portfolio

publications

talks

Aesthetic Dispositions and Cultural Variety: Hierarchical Clustering Analysis for Cultural Preferences in Contemporary Chile

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The presentation investigates the impact of Chile’s neoliberal cultural production reforms on aesthetic preferences and cultural repertoires. Using longitudinal data, the analysis estimates consumer patterns based on variations in aesthetic tastes across ten fields of cultural production. Hierarchical clustering is employed to categorize consumers into three types: omnivores, univores, and those with cultural variety. The study evaluates individual attributes influencing taste preferences, including gender, age, ethnicity, educational attainment, and the aesthetic dispositions reported by respondents.

What is Sustainability Science? A Text Analysis Approach to the Field’s Semantic Structure

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In the Climate Crisis era, sustainability science has emerged as a key response to societal unsustainability, serving as the lingua franca for transdisciplinary approaches across various fields. This presentation explores sustainability science over three decades of scientific production. We investigate the scientific network and language usage of sustainability science using secondary data and topic modeling. Key questions include: What are the field’s most important topics? How have these topics evolved over time? Analyzing 2.5 million academic publications, we use supervised and unsupervised text modeling to identify the field’s lexicon and linguistic topology. We also assess disciplinary expertise and publication dates as covariates in a comparative set of structural topic models (STM).

The Inter-organizational Field of Contemporary Art

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In recent years, the study of organizational fields within creative networks has become a focal point for examining both formal and informal relationships that contribute to value-making processes. This presentation centers on the inter-organizational field of contemporary art to empirically assess how ‘valuable’ art pieces emerge as a byproduct of the brokerage power exercised by organizations. By adopting a two-mode network perspective, this work provides an empirical approach to a classical sociological issue: under what conditions can homophilic selection affect access to material and symbolic resources in the art world? Ultimately, it seeks to determine which types of connections are crucial for convincing the art scene of an artist’s creative potential.

The Science of Sustainability: An Inter-organizational Approach to the Latin American Network

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This presentation aims to analyze the production of scientific knowledge in sustainability science within Latin America over the past 30 years, focusing on the structuring of the research network. The first stage of this study involves defining the field of sustainability science in the region, identifying key actors and centers of scientific knowledge production, and mapping the relationships between these entities. By building a macro-level map of the production network, we aim to elucidate the connections not only between scientific actors but also between scientific and non-scientific actors. This analysis provides insights into the collaborative dynamics and institutional landscapes shaping sustainability science in Latin America.

Artists, Artworks, and Galleries: A Socio-Semantic Approach to the Contemporary Art Market and its Dualities

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In recent years, social scientists have increasingly focused on the production of cultural value as a prime example of the structure-content duality. Building on Ronald Breiger’s seminal work (1974), this presentation offers a socio-semantic network analysis of the contemporary art market, exploring the underlying mechanisms that shape its organizing principles. The research contributes to the existing literature by adopting a relational perspective to address core questions previously overlooked by economic and cultural analyses. Specifically, it examines the roles of organizational cultures and aesthetic topics in structuring the market for symbolic goods, the significance of various connections for competitiveness in the art scene, and the impact of social networks on access to social and symbolic resources in the art world. Methodologically this work combines Multilevel Exponential Random Graphs (MERGMs) and Structural Topic Models (STMs).

The Art of Connections: Social Relations and Cultural Value in Chile’s Contemporary Art Market

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This presentation examines the conditions for artists’ success in markets where private investment and philanthropy do not play a pivotal role in cultural consumption. Focusing on Chile’s model of state funding, the analysis contrasts Bones’ (1989) assumptions with evidence supporting the hypothesis that social connections are crucial, even when these connections are with public institutions, policymakers, and tastemakers. The presentation employs two-level hierarchical models to control for contextual conditions in predicting contemporary art sales before and after the economic impact of COVID-19.

teaching

Sociology of Art

Undergraduate course, UC Chile, Department of Sociology, 2020

This course offers a sociological perspective on art and aesthetics, delving into influential authors from both theoretical and methodological viewpoints. Weekly discussions will involve empirical case studies that illustrate the conceptual and methodological considerations behind studying the art forms. The course sections will concentrate on the following areas: 1) The epistemological foundations for the sociological study of art and aesthetics, 2) key sociological traditions that have theorized about art and aesthetics, 3) an overview of current research methodologies in the sociology of art, and 4) contemporary challenges in studying art as a form of cultural sociology. The course structure includes lectures, written assessments, discussion seminars, and response papers.

Introduction to Social Science Methodologies

Undergraduate course, UC Chile, Department of Sociology, 2023

This course offers a comprehensive introduction to research design and methodologies in the social sciences. Students will explore both quantitative and qualitative methods, gaining insight into the most frequently employed techniques in contemporary research. The curriculum covers inductive, deductive, and abductive reasoning as foundational approaches to developing robust research designs. Through a combination of lectures, discussions, and practical assignments, students will learn to collect and interpret data effectively. Weekly assignments are designed to reinforce these skills, providing hands-on experience in applying theoretical concepts to real-world scenarios. By the end of the course, students will be equipped with the tools and methodologies necessary for conducting high-standard academic work.

Social Network Analysis

Undergraduate course, UC Chile, Department of Sociology, 2024

The course introduces students to Social Network Analysis (SNA), covering key theoretical and methodological aspects of the field. The class provides participants with practical skills in data collection, designing relational research, constructing network databases, and producing descriptive metrics and inferential models in social networks. The course sections focus on 1) establishing the historical and theoretical foundations of SNA, 2) studying and applying network methodology components, 3) exploring the main models and research questions in the field, and 4) discussing contemporary challenges in experimental designs within SNA. The course structure includes lectures, written assessments, group presentations, and assignments involving text and code implementation in the R programming language.

Sociological Paradigms

Undergraduate course, UC Chile, Department of Sociology, 2024

The course introduces students to key theoretical models in Sociology, focusing on the works of authors from the 19th and 20th centuries. Particular attention is given to the traditions of historical materialism, interpretative sociology, formalism, critical theory, structuralism, functionalism, symbolic interactionism, and relationalism. The class includes weekly seminars in which students will discuss assigned readings with the teaching assistants (TAs).