Media Society

Abstract

Abstract Media society (MS) is understood as an emergent social formation that develops when the modern media system, by way of technological means, typical content, and a patterning communicative logic, enters ever deeper into the individual, institutional, and societal sphere of contemporary society. As media and information technologies merge to provide the technical infrastructure of the bulk of human communication, they become the backbone of both private and public social interaction. While media's emergence as a major force of modernization and social change is structurally related to technological innovation and institutional differentiation, their cultural significance lies with their new social, political, and cultural roles. Hence, media have come to be designated a “total social phenomenon” brought about by a rapid process of the mediatization of human relations on the micro‐, meso, and macro‐levels. First, as sophisticated means of (interpersonal) communication, they organize and shape the most fundamental of human traits – communication – as social interaction in work and leisure time, in public and in private, as people increasingly rely on technological devices. Second, in their joint role as social, cultural, and economic institutions that provide professional communication, they increasingly set the standards, and the pace, and suggest the format of human interaction. The modern media system has thus begun to exert increasing pressure on other social fields (Altheide & Snow 1979), as the way they select, shape, and distribute their messages becomes the prevalent source of information and mode of experience. Third, on the macro‐level, they have become a social subsystem (Luhmann 2000) in its own right, as the increasing division of labor and rapid specialization has transformed the media from intermediaries in the service of other social fields into major economic and cultural actors that impact on and irritate other social subsystems such as politics, the economy, science, and education.