What is media sociology?
The purpose of this article is to introduce some main themes in media sociology, in particular the question of the various media as particular technological milieu and media as the public. It is possible to analyze media as milieu, that is technologies that not only canalize information, but also, by the manner in which they function, form the social milieu that they are a part of. This is illustrated through analyses of television and computer/internet as media milieu. The question of the public-political as well as broader cultural public, every day life public, taste public-is also a central theme in the study of media. These publics come into being through the media. Hence one be interested in the contents of these publics, for instance the meanings, values, stories, information, rituals that are being communicated. One can also be interested in the process of construction of meanings, for instance the conditions for creation and maintenance of publics, the power relations involved in production and transmission of meaning and the reception of the meanings that are being communicated.
