Communicative Activity

Social Theoretical Foundations for Critical Materialist Media and Communication Sociology in the Digital Age

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2371129
AutoresSebastian Sevignani (0000-0002-3638-0952, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, autor de correspondencia)
Año2024
Volumen50
Número4-5
Páginas707-725
Fecha de publicación2024-07-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCritical Sociology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0896-9205 • E-ISSN: 1569-1632
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/08969205241230246
OpenAlexW4391753886
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas44

This paper contributes to the social theoretical foundations of a sociology of media and communication by making use of the cultural-historical school in psychology. Such perspective gains relevance in digital capitalism and the blurring of production and Internet usage. The paper first revisits Habermas's influential notion of communicative action and agency. Second, it uses activity theory as an alternative, more promising way of theorising because it links communication closer to work. A model of communicative action is introduced and a conceptual link between media and human tool use is established. Third, the paper elaborates on the notion of activity in the digital world and posits that digitalisation can be understood as a 'machinisation' of mental and communicative-coordinative work. The developed perspective, the paper concludes, allows critical media and communication sociology to operate with meaningful concepts of communicative expropriation, exploitation and alienation

Alienation · Capitalism · Communicative action · Critical theory · Epistemology · Materialism · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of culture · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Innovation, Technology, and Society · Social Media and Politics