MEDIATIZATION AND SOCIAL CHANGE: A CONTRIBUTION TO STUDYING THE MEDIATIZATION OF POLITICS

The article investigates mediatization as an empirical process and a new theoretical approach. Differences between the concepts of mediatization and mediation are examined, with other new concepts developed by this theoretical approach in the analysis of the interaction of media and social change. The article presents three key perspectives in mediatization theory and the most important authors who preceded it from the communication and media field, as well as from the broader social scientific theory (mainly sociological) which forms the basis for the contemporary research into the dynamics of mediatization. Cultural, material and institutional perspectives in the mediatization approach (the institutional also including the mediatization of politics) are analyzed in respect to their understanding of the historical periods in which mediatization takes place, of communication media, broader theoretical frameworks, and the results of empirical research. The article concludes with an analysis of the reception of the mediatization approach in Croatia in light of the progression of mediatization changes from the macro perspectives of the media system and the micro perspectives of the information habits of the media audiences.