Networks, Society, and Polis: Epistemological Approaches on Mediatization

Göran Bolin 74 Now – a generational analysis building on interviews can only reach as far back in history as we have living interview- ees. If we are to use generational theory to study longer time perspectives, we need other kinds of empiric data. Such data has successfully been used by media historians such as Eliza- beth Eisenstein (1979) and Walter Ong (1982), where archival material can reveal past commonalities, discourses, and ways of thinking. Although they did not focus generations per se, they studied social change and such data can also be of aid in study- ing the mediatization process. V – Conclusions In the above, I have suggested a model for analysing mediatized social change by way of focussing on generational cohorts and their trajectory through the social and media land- scape. Through the relations between generations, time is pro- duced, and thus these relations also produce social change. There is a great need to develop research tools for capturing the mediatization process as both a social and a historical process. We need to study it as a social process because the way in which historical change occur will involve human action, and will rely on how individuals and social formations perceive of the social and media landscapes. We need to focus on the historical dimension because we need to define at what level change occur (individual, group, society), and – above all – the specific cultural character of change. Only in such a way can we empirically establish the ways in which the media contribute to social and historical change. References ALTHEIDE, D. L.; SNOW, R. P. (1979) Media Logic . Beverly Hills: Sage. BAUDRILLARD, J. (1971) Requiem pour les Media. Utopie 4: 35–51. BAUDRILLARD, J. (1976/1993) Symbolic Exchange and Death . London: Sage. First published.