ABSTRACT
In this book we have studied mediatization processes at several levels, theoretically as well as empirically. In the theoretical Chapters 1–2 we have characterized mediatization as a major transformative process of high modernity on a par with urbanization, globalization, and individualization. Mediatization is defined as the process whereby culture and society to an increasing degree become dependent on the media and their logic and this process is furthermore characterized by a duality in that the media have acquired the status of a semi-independent institution in society at the same time as they become integrated into the very fabric of social life in other social institutions and cultural spheres. In Chapters 3–5 we explored the influences of media within particular institutional contexts and in Chapter 6 we have gone beyond any single institutional context in order to consider the development of individualism in high modernity. Precisely because the media have become integrated into society, their influence is also dependent on the particular contexts in which they are used. As the preceding chapters have demonstrated, mediatization may have considerable influence, but also very different consequences, depending on the specific social institution or phenomenon – politics, religion, play, or habitus — in question. Table 7.1 presents an overview of the key consequences of mediatization regarding the various institutions and phenomena.
