Mediatization@Logic.com

Abstract

Mediatization scholars promised to connect mediatization research with social theory, describe its interplay with other meta-processes, and create a “common theoretically based roof”. Hepp and Couldry state that the concept of logic is unable to do that, yet do not provide for the alternative. The paper argues there is a wide misunderstanding what the concept of logic actually is and what it is bringing to the table. Hepp considers logic in terms of “narrow and reductionist thinking”. Media logic is questioned in terms of its universal validity compared to mathematical or philosophical logic. There are at least two significant problems with this attitude towards logic. First, there is sociological logic. Even the theorists that provide the conceptual background of cultural or constructivist approach to mediatization use the concept of logic: Bourdieu and Elias. While they use the concept of logic to describe the organizing principle of habitus or figuration formations, it is cultural mediatization theorists that reject that. Second, even if media logic is too static or rigid, in times of digitalization and datafication the concept of logic is not institutionalist at all – it is mathematical and philosophical, embodied by digital technology itself, artifical intelligence (logical reasoning), algorithms (logic in software), social bots and automation. The paper argues media logic can help mediatization to become a roof term for media studies.