Networks, Society, and Polis: Epistemological Approaches on Mediatization

Vera V. França 34 ment remains. Although the concept of ideology is little present in studies on mediatization, most of them highlight how the use of new platforms heightens conflicts of interest and creates an environment of polarization. Perhaps we can say that the concept of cultural in- dustry, in its original formulation, has been overcome – but not the Critical Theory that supported it. Cultural industry, while a (practical) phenomenon, yet exists and has expanded enor- mously; if open television, printed newspapers, for example, are losing importance, streaming services (like the Netflix), alterna - tive channels (via YouTube) show that the industrial production of culture is more alive than ever. The concept of cultural indus- try focused on a specific moment when the mass media were hegemonic. The phenomenon has widened; it has gained new imbrications and configurations – the concept has become nar - row. However, a large part of the meanings it expressed, such as the capitalist exploitation of culture, ideological domination, marketization, manipulation itself, through directing informa- tion, remain current. That is why Critical Theory (the Frankfurt School’s thinking), after a phase of discredit, goes through a mo- ment of rescue and re-reading. Mediasphere A few years ago, Régis Debray (1991 [1993]) proposed the creation of a new discipline, mediology. The proposition did not go ahead, but his argument was interesting: the focus of mediology would be the study of how ideas become material strength, that is, how the materialization (the inscription on a medium) acts on ideas and the dynamics of their circulation. In this theoretical field, proposed by the author, he pre - sented the concept of the mediasphere – “means of transmission and transport of messages and individuals, with the methods of elaboration and intellectual diffusion that correspond to it” (DEBRAY, 1993, p. 243). The emphasis on the support and materialization of ideas, as well as the dynamics of circulation that such supports allow, is close to the concept of mediatization. By registering how the mediaspheres changed in different historical moments,