ABSTRACT
Ernesto Laclau wrote almost two decades ago that contemporary societies ‘are required by their very dynamics to become increasingly mythical’ (1990: 67) —a positive sociological claim that on the face of it is surprising from a philosopher who is highly influenced by Derridean deconstruction. The paradox is only intensified by the title of Laclau’s essay which is ‘The Impossibility of Society’. Yet I think Laclau identified something very important about the possibilities and requirements of ‘social order’ today, even if, as I note elsewhere, the foundations of Laclau’s argument lie too much in the abstractions of philosophy of language to provide a secure basis for social enquiry (Couldry 2008). Nonetheless, it is in a broadly similar spirit to Laclau that I have argued in my work that contemporary mediated societies are at least inclined, if not required, to become increasingly ‘ritualized’—ritualized in a particular sense appropriate to mediated societies.
