Audience readings cluster into structured patterns rather than random individual variation

Evidence

“Selective perception” is the door via which, in recent research, a residual pluralism is reserved within the sphere of a highly structured, a-symmetrical cultural operation. Of course, there will always be individual, private, variant readings. But my own tentative view is that “selective perception” is almost never as selective, random, or privatized as the concept suggests. The patterns exhibit more structuring and clustering than is normally assumed. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 805

Categorization

• XREF: Directly foreshadows the landmark 1980 ‘Encoding/Decoding’ essay and the later Morley Nationwide audience study that tested exactly this clustering claim.
• QUESTION: What evidence did later audience studies actually find about the degree of structuring vs random variation in decodings?
• SEED: Angles a critique of ‘selective perception’ in social media feed analysis today — algorithmic clustering may prove Hall’s point about structured readings.