Mediatization

The term mediatization refers to the importance of the media in the day-to-day activities of individuals, families, peer groups, and organizations.[Page 445] It implies changes in media technologies and how these changes transform possibilities for interactions and communication between humans, and thereby also other parts of society. Mediatization is a part of the conditions that shape the everyday life of individuals, society, and culture as a whole. But mediatization can also be understood as an institutional process that reflects and forms dominant value systems and preferences in a given social context, thereby influencing how individual as well as collective actors relate to and deal with each. It is with respect to the latter understanding that mediatization—both as a theoretical and as an analytical concept—is relevant ...