Media Sociology

Abstract

Media sociology is fragmented in myriad lines of research anchored in analytical and theoretical concerns from across sociological thought and other social sciences. It is not a coherent, well‐defined field of study with shared questions, ontological center, or common institutional roof. It is disaggregated in parallel questions about “the media” soaked in sociological thinking. This shapes a vibrant, chaotic, layered academic space grounded in the sociological tradition with significant overlaps with other disciplines and postdisciplines—from cultural studies to the social study of science and technology. This entry assesses the state of media sociology and shows why sociological thinking matters to media studies. A sociological focus on large‐scale social forces interrogates the significance of supraindividual processes and collective phenomena in the media and mediated processes. It brings a sensitivity to social context, social forces, social history, and social problems that expands the analytical horizons of media studies by placing media questions in a web of social relations.