Networks, Society, and Polis: Epistemological Approaches on Mediatization

Vera V. França 24 ing them, and how much does a conceptual construction help to think about the phenomenon at the screen. When we talk about mediatization, these two move- ments become very self-evident. The changes in reality, regard- ing the development and expansion of technological means and communication forms, have been undeniable and forceful. If the advent of the mass media, in the first half of the last century, has completely changed and innovated the communicative scenari- os and forms, the digital medium – and the multiple platforms that never cease to be created – has completely revolutionized social life, forms of sociability, individual protagonism, political practices, corporate interventions. Its penetration in the differ- ent spaces of social life, in the different spheres of society, in the last two decades, has configured a new and challenging phe - nomenon. Faced with this new phenomenon, and urged by it, the theoretical tools were put to the test, and new concepts are being forged and tested. Mediatization, therefore, is a term that designates the phenomenon, but it is also a concept. In this reflection, we do not focus on aspects of the phenomenon — indisputable —, but on the different efforts that have been developed to treat it theoret- ically. Without intending to be exhaustive, this text, of an explor- atory nature, is organized in three moments. The first part seeks to apprehend discussions around the concept in Brazil. Then, we present a systematization of its different approaches to, in the fi - nal part, establish approximation and distinction of the concept of mediatization concerning similar concepts. II – The concept path As we said above, it is necessary to, initially, distinguish the phenomenon and the concept(s). The phenomenon con- cerns the changes in the technical-communicative scenario that have been taking shape since the last decades of the 20 th century and notably in the first years of the 21 st century. The concept refers to the different approaches and ways of understanding these changes – and it is naturally plural (since the treatments are multiple and not always convergent).