Mediatization from Below

Abstract

Owing to the manifold of applications, shifting underpinning epistemologies and (sometimes) dense theoretical frameworks, mediatization research might appear as vague, unclear and abstract. In this chapter, I argue that specifying the meaning of “media” in relation to mediatization would be one way to make the research clearer. Yet such a specification must be preceded by an elaboration of the notion of media, a recognition that the media as intermediate means of communication are articulations of different layers: technological, social and discursive ones. In addition, in order to concretize mediatization research, I advocate an ethnographical bottom-up approach of clearly delineated contexts or phenomena, guided by contextualization and a focus on social aspects beyond media representations and media technologies. The anchorage in the social world is favourable when it comes to grasping dynamics of mediatization.