Mediatization of Communication: from Concept to Theory

Abstract

Mediatization, along with globalization, individualization and commercialization, is placed among major social processes that change culture and communication. The article sets forth polemics in the European academic community as to this phenomenon's definition. It examines the key approaches to the study of mediatization in humanities and social sciences and traces development of mediatization from the analytical concept to the theoretical basis. The main emphasis is laid on the communication mediatization theory by Friedrich Krotz and its implementation in the "Mediatized worlds" projects.