ABSTRACT
Mediatization, a concept often harnessed by the social sciences and cultural studies, refers to an experience everybody is acquainted with in his or her everyday life: technological communication media saturate more and more social domains which are drastically transforming at the same time. A qualitative analysis of mediatization focuses its attention, both empirically and theoretically, on the specific consequences of this saturation of everyday life by media and to what extent this affects social and cultural change. Deep mediatization presents a challenge to mediatization research as it must incorporate the analysis of algorithms, data and digital infrastructures. Investigating algorithms becomes necessary because in a state of deep mediatization facets of the mediated construction of the social world occur through automated data processing. A materialist phenomenology scrutinizes media technologies and infrastructures through and on the basis of contemporary communications. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
