Communicative Figurations: Transforming Communications in Times of Deep Mediatization (Transforming Communications Studies in Cross-Media Research)

This open access volume assesses the influence of our changing media environment. Today, there is not one single medium that is the driving force of change. With the spread of various technical communication media such as mobile phones and internet platforms, we are confronted with a media manifold of deep mediatization. But how can we investigate its transformative capability? This book answers this question by taking a non-media-centric perspective, researching the various figurations of collectivities and organizations humans are involved in. The first part of the book outlines a fundamental understanding of the changing media environment of deep mediatization and its transformative capacity. The second part focuses on collectivities and movements: communities in the city, critical social movements, maker, online gaming groups and networked groups of young people. The third part moves institutions and organizations into the foreground, discussing the transformation of journalism, religion, politics, and education, whilst the fourth and final part is dedicated to methodologies and perspectives.

Andreas Hepp is Professor of Media and Communication Studies with a special interest in Media Culture and Communication Theory at the ZeMKI (Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research), University of Bremen, Germany.

Andreas Breiter is Professor of Information Management and Educational Technologies at the University of Bremen, Germany, within the ZeMKI and Scientific Director of ifib, a not-for-profit research institute for information management.

Uwe Hasebrink is Professor of Empirical Communications Studies at the University of Hamburg and head of the Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research, Hamburg, Germany.