Media, Social Ontology and Intentionality: Notes from Meta-Theoretical Borders

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present a meta-theoretical analysis of three broadly defined areas of academic work with substantial internal complexity and difference: mediatisation, reflexive modernisation and critical political economy of communication. Each developed a complex set of ideas and concepts for explaining elements of media, communication and/or social change. The main argument is that by looking at the intersection between these areas, a more complete argument can be made for explaining the complexity of media and social change in the twenty-first century. Two philosophical concepts aid in untangling the connections and differences between these areas. First, social ontology or the understanding of what society is and what is it made of. Second, intentionality or the understanding of the experiences of actors about society as well as their role in media and communication change. By looking at the boundaries and connecting points between mediatisation, reflexive modernisation and critical political economy of communication the paper offers an analysis of multiple ontological dimensions: cultural and social constructivist, social and sociotechnical and political-economic.

KEYWORDS:

• Meta theory
• mediatisation
• reflexive modernisation
• political economy of communication
• social ontology
• intentionality

ORCID

Paško Bilić http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5174-7073

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paško Bilić

Paško Bilić is Research Associate at the Department for Culture and Communication, Institute for Development and International Relations in Zagreb, Croatia. Previously, he was International Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Westminster (London, UK), short-term researcher at Istanbul Bilgi University (Turkey) and the University of Bremen (Germany), as well as Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Canada). He has published on a wide range of topics including algorithmic capitalism, digital labour, open collaboration, search engines, political economy of digital news, and media regulation. He is the co-editor of Technologies of Labour and the Politics of Contradiction (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).