[ecrea] CTP for a special issue of “Communication Theory”

“Conceptualizing Mediatization”

Call for Papers for a special issue of “Communication Theory”
Guest editors: Nick Couldry (Goldsmiths, University of London),
Andreas Hepp (ZeMKI, University of Bremen)

Today, we can no longer understand culture and society in isolation from 
the media:
If we do politics, for instance, it is politics by and through media. 
The way we spend
our work time as well as our spare time is increasingly marked by the use of
computers. Against this backdrop, ‘mediatization’ has evolved as a key 
concept to
describe a fundamental transformation of the relationship between the media,
culture, and society. Generally speaking, ‘mediatization’ captures the 
interrelation
between media-communicative change, on the one hand, and socio-cultural 
change,
on the other. The core idea behind this concept is that the changing 
media exert an
influence in that they alter communication processes and, in so doing, 
our sociocultural
construction of reality. In this sense, media are ‘moulding forces’. 
However,
the specificity of certain media opens up various possibilities for 
dealing with them,
depending on the contexts of their appropriation, as well as on 
power-relations. In
such a perspective, ‘mediatization theory’ is less concerned with direct and
unidirectional effects of media contents on culture and society but 
allows for a
complex and critical reflection of the role of contemporary media 
communication, as
well as the history of culture and society.

Over the past decade, the discussion surrounding mediatization has 
stimulated
important empirical research. It has produced a wide array of 
sophisticated analyses
of the mediatization of various fields of culture and society, most 
notably on politics,
religion, and popular culture. As mediatization research becomes more 
and more
differentiated today, it is time to reflect on the theoretical power of 
mediatization
theory, particularly against the background of empirical research in and 
beyond its
tradition.

The aim of this special issue of Communication Theory therefore is to 
stimulate
debate by “Conceptualizing Mediatization” in a wider perspective. Within 
such a
general scope, we invite manuscript submissions on the following 
non-exclusive list
of topics:

• Re-thinking the complexity of mediatization.
• Theorizing historical dimensions of mediatization.
• Reflections on (trans-)cultural and (trans-)national aspects of 
mediatization.
• Mediatization as critical approach of media research..
• Mediatization in relation to other concepts of change within communication
and media research.

Manuscripts must be submitted no later than 1 April 2012 through the 
online system
of Communication Theory. Submissions should indicate that authors wish 
to have
their manuscript considered for the special issue. Manuscript inquiries 
should be
sent to Nick Couldry (<(n.couldry /at/ gold.ac.uk)>) and Andreas Hepp 
(<(andreas.hepp /at/ uni-bremen.de)>).