medialisering

Medialisering, or mediatization, is a concept used in sociology and media studies to describe the increasing pervasiveness of media in shaping social life. It refers to processes by which media conditions, and often mediates, the ways in which politics, economy, culture, education, religion, and everyday interaction are organized and experienced. In this view, media are not only channels for communication but social institutions with their own logic—emphasizing speed, visibility, personalization, and performativity—that interact with other parts of society.

Scholars distinguish between structural changes (the expansion of media capacity and institutions such as newsrooms, broadcasters, and online platforms) and interpretive changes (actors adjusting strategies to fit media demands). The concept is used to analyze phenomena such as political communication, public debates, corporate branding, and the production of cultural meaning, including how newsworthiness, agendas, and legitimacy are constructed in and through media.

Debates surround medialisering: it risks technological determinism or overextension of media influence; criticisms focus on measurement, causality, and the agency of actors and organizations. In contemporary contexts, digitalization and social media have intensified medialisering by enabling rapid feedback, algorithmic curation, and user-generated content, while raising questions about power, inequality, and representation.

In Nordic and European scholarship, medialisering is a key lens for understanding how media logic penetrates institutions and everyday life, shaping both public discourse and private experience.