A Cultural Approach to the Study of Mediated Citizenship

Abstract

The study of media and politics is dominated by three central but flawed assumptions: that news is the primary and proper sphere of political communication; that the most important function of media is to supply citizens with “information”; and that political “engagement” must necessarily be associated with physical activity. These assumptions are based on an instrumental orientation toward media. This article advances instead a cultural approach to the study of mediated citizenship, one that foregrounds the intimate role that media play in the daily lives of citizens. It argues four primary propositions: that people employ a complex ensemble of media that have extensive reach into our lives as citizens and consumers; that media have differential effects on the meanings that come to constitute political reality; that we must look beyond information acquisition as the primary reason for how and why citizens employ political media, and instead see the integrative aspects of media usage; and that we exist in a culture of mediated engagement with politics that structures our political lives in unprecedented ways. Together, these propositions suggest that scholars need to account for the central role of mediated politics—in all its various manifestations and forms—in the constitution of citizens’ understanding of the state and their relationship to it.