Explaining the Mediatisation Approach

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the mediatisation approach, which for the last two decades has gradually become a systematic concept for understanding and theorising the transformation of everyday life, culture and society in the context of the ongoing transformation of media. The article is divided into four sections. The first section addresses the ongoing transformation of media and the emergence of a computer-controlled digital infrastructure for all symbolic operations in a society; some of the new types of media are also presented. In the second section, the development of the mediatisation approach as a reaction to media changes is explained, and the central assumptions and conditions of this approach are discussed. This section also shows why, in addition to actual mediatisation research, historical mediatisation research is also necessary to understand the developments occurring today. The third section clarifies this and discusses how the transformation of media produces a transformation of everyday life, culture and society; this section also presents some results of empirical studies. The fourth and final section provides some preliminary ideas about how to establish a necessary third branch of mediatisation research, which offers a critical view with reference to civil society, besides actual and historical mediatisation research.

Variants of Interplay as Drivers of Media Change

“…Media, as socially embedded in and by communicative action (Knoblauch, 2017;Krotz, 2017), is anchored in its capacity of mediation. In a wider understanding, media has shaped and is shaping cultural objects that mediate different actor's actions-i.e.…”

Media Coverage of 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum From Mediatization Theory Perspective

“…Усиление роли медиа в политической сфере получило в литературе название медиатизации политики. На сегодняшний день наблюдается рост количества исследований медиатизации, идет активная дискуссия о развитии и уточнении данного концепта [Krotz, 2017]. Несмотря на возрастающий интерес академического сообщества к данной теме, исследователи признают необходимость в эмпирическом подтверждении процесса медиатизации, так как основное обсуждение ведется на теоретическом уровне [Hepp, Hjarvard, Lundby, 2010].…”

A Discursive Approach to Mediatisation: Corporate Technology Discourse and the Trope of Media Indispensability

“…Although there are still many suggestions as to how to define mediatisation (cf. Couldry & Hepp, 2013;Ekström, Fornäs, Jansson, & Jerslev, 2016;Hepp & Couldry, 2016;Hjarvard, 2013;Krotz, 2009Krotz, , 2017Lundby, 2009), the notion of media indispensability has been suggested as key to the concept. Jansson (2014Jansson ( , 2015aJansson ( , 2015bJansson ( , 2018 argues that today 'we can see that media are generally, and to an increasing extent, perceived as indispensable to the interactions between individuals and groups' (Jansson, 2015a, p. 380, original emphasis).…”

“…Less is known, however, about how mediatisation is discursively constructed. The relevance of constructivist approaches to mediatisation has been explicated, e.g., by Krotz (2017), who calls for critical mediatisation studies that consider the economic interests of mediatisation stakeholders, including the ICT industry. Against this backdrop, this article scrutinizes what the alleged 'mobility revolution' entails according to some who would benefit most from such a revolution.…”

“…Against this backdrop, this article identifies a need for a discursive turn in mediatisation research and so approaches the 'mobility revolution' from a discursive standpoint. The relevance of constructivist approaches to mediatisation has been explicated by Krotz (2017), who calls for critical mediatisation studies that consider the economic interests of mediatisation stakeholders, including the telecom industry. As a process accomplished by humans rather than a natural given, he argues, mediatisation must 'be reconstructed critically in order to find the points where the civil society was not asked' (Krotz, 2017, p. 114).…”