The Mediatization of Society: A Theory of the Media as Agents of Social and Cultural Change
Open accessAbstract
Using mediatization as the key concept, this article presents a theory of the influence media exert on society and culture. After reviewing existing discussions of mediatization by Krotz (2007), Schulz (2004), Thompson (1995), and others, an institutional approach to the mediatization process is suggested. Mediatization is to be considered a double-sided process of high modernity in which the media on the one hand emerge as an independent institution with a logic of its own that other social institutions have to accommodate to. On the other hand, media simultaneously become an integrated part of other institutions like politics, work, family, and religion as more and more of these institutional activities are performed through both interactive and mass media. The logic of the media refers to the institutional and technological modus operandi of the media, including the ways in which media distribute material and symbolic resources and make use of formal and informal rules.
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Through mediatization, the operational logic of the dominant form of media gradually comes to define the broader cultural logic of its era.
“Through this process of 'mediatization' (Hjarvard, 2008), the operational logic of the dominant form of media gradually comes to define the broader cultural logic of its era (McLuhan, 1994; Postman, 1985).”
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“Through this process of “mediatiza-tion” (Hjarvard, 2008), the operational logic of the dominant form of media gradually comes to define the broader cultural logic of its era (McLuhan, 1994; Postman, 1985).”
- Authors
- Hjarvard, S.
- Corresponding author
- Hjarvard, Stig
- ORCID
- Hjarvard, Stig
- Venue
- Nordicom Review
- Publisher
- Walter de Gruyter GmbH
- Published
- 2008-11-01
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 102-131
- ISSN
- 1403-1108 (ISSN-L)
- 2001-5119
- OpenAlex
- W2100212414
- Cited by
- 1,128
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 74 · 2025: 54 · 2024: 97 · 2023: 53 · 2022: 62 · 2021: 85 · 2020: 120 · 2019: 63 · 2018: 64 · 2017: 87 · 2016: 46 · 2015: 67 · 2014: 75 · 2013: 69 · 2012: 48
- FWCI
- 85.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nordicom review/NORDICOM review (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Communication › Media and Communication Studies
- Social Sciences › Communication › Media Studies and Communication
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Networks and Communications › Media and Digital Communication
- Keywords
- mediatization, late modernity, institutional approach, media influence on society, media and politics, media and family, media and religion, interactive media, mass media, symbolic resources
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