ABSTRACT
Civil society is based on the heterogeneity of the institutionalized social practices performed by different groups, which are constituted according to class, status, gender, race, age, religion, or nationality. As steam engines in the past decisively influenced economic and social changes, information and communication technologies are supposed to revolutionize social relations. Throughout history, the struggle for communication rights and freedoms has been an important part of political struggle for general freedom and democracy. Actual democratization implies that the number of active participants in the communication processes and the social basis of communication expand. The mass media can be seen not only as a cornerstone of democracy but also as an important argument against direct democracy since they easily manipulate individual needs, desires, and choices or at least demonstrate their manipulability. An institutionalized distinction between state and civil society is normatively considered a fundamental precondition of pluralistic, parliamentary democracies in modern complex societies.
