Cultures of mediatization

摘要

The emerging field of mediatization studies investigates the implications for societies and cultures that are becoming and being saturated by media. In essence, mediatization studies tackle the classical media sociological question on media and social change, albeit in a different way than medium theory or media effects studies. Specific media technologies are not central to explanations, nor are media conceived as an independent variable directly or indirectly influencing people, their attitudes, and behaviors. Mediatization studies have mainly been developed in Western Europe, particularly in Germany and the Scandinavian countries, although several leading British scholars, among them Nick Couldry and Sonia Livingstone, and American scholars such as Lynn Scho-field Clark, have been part of the debates for many years now.