From the myth of the mediated centre to the myth of Big Data: reflections on media’s role in social order

Abstract

This paper investigates the nature of the social order and the characteristic role of media institutions in sustaining or transforming this order. To this, I go through my own work, with the goal of bringing hidden dimensions of social change that have helped me understand the social order in datified societies. I discuss about my production, punctuating the theoretical path that I walk in relation to the new social relations established in a datified society, in order to investigate the current functioning of media power. I allocate television as a fundamental part for this understanding, concluding that, despite the new social order, traditional media institutions survive and may constitute a key element for the criticality needed in data times.