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

Fri Oct 21 19:23:36 GMT 2011




“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)>).


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