Hvad er mediesociologi?

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

Livsstilsbegrebet – i miljøsociologisk perspektiv

Denne artikel tager livsstilsbegrebet op til diskussion og gør det ud fra et miljøsociologisk perspektiv, men med relevans for sociologien i almindelighed. Livsstilsbegrebet er af stor betydning i miljøsociologien – og i sociologien generelt – fordi studiet af livsstil muliggør en forståelse af samspillet mellem en række forskellige dynamikker der former alle dele af livsførelsen for individet og i en større samfundsmæssig sammenhæng. Der er imidlertid behov for at gøre op med nogle af de erkendelsesmæssige blindgyder som livsstilsbegrebet ofte ender i. Det gælder især forestillingen om livsstil som status- og identitetssignal. Frem for alene at fokusere på identitetssignalet og selvidentiteten som den kritiske parameter i livsstilen argumenterer artiklen for, at man først og fremmest skal forstå livsstil som handlemåder og praksisformer der er formet af blandt andet det kropslige, det kulturelle og det materielle. Artiklen er blevet til på baggrund af et projekt om Livsstil og Naturkvalitet i Byrummet; projektet er finansieret af Realdania og Danmarks Miljøundersøgelser. ENGELSK ABSTRACT: Lars Kjerulf Petersen: The Concept of Lifestyle – from the Perspective of Environmental Sociology The concept of lifestyle is of great significance in environmental sociology – and in sociology in general – because studies of lifestyle enable a deeper understanding of interactions between different social dynamics affecting all aspects of everyday life. This article explores the concept of lifestyle from the perspective of environmental sociology, but with relevance for sociology in general. The article argues that it is necessary to reorient lifestyle studies and redefine the concept itself. In particular, the idea of lifestyle as a signal of status and identity needs to be reconsidered. Instead of focussing on identity and signalling as the critical factors of lifestyle, the concept needs to be understood in terms of patterns of practice which are dialectically shaped by cultural, material and bodily orders. Key words: Lifestyle, environment, practice, identity, materiality

Tekst- og diskursanalyse som sociologisk fremgangsmåde

Text and discourse analyses as sociological pratice Text analysis must be regarded as a central component in sociological inquiry. Relations of power and domination and societal processes as such are establi¬shed and maintained through knowled¬¬ge and communication, i.e. through texts. Therefore sociology should be in¬terested in identifying the knowledge and the meanings, i.e. the discourses, that are prevalent in a society, a commu¬nity or various organisations – and in the texts of such social organisms. The purpose of this article is to argue that the identification of societal discourses, and thereby the production of sociolo¬gical insight, can be very profitably con¬ducted through text analysis. First the concept of discourse is clarified. With reference to Ricoeur and Foucault dis¬course is understood as a system of meaning and knowledge, a system that is in motion and works in multiple ways, but still has some sort of coheren¬ce. To identify discourses in a group of texts, different techniques can be appli¬ed focusing on various aspects of text structure. Through such techniques the interpretation of texts can be qualified, and a maximum of accordance between the sociological analysis and the wor¬kings in and of a text can be approa¬ched. Texts are elements in signification processes involving senders and recei¬vers and their (re)construction of mean¬ing. While it is very important to consi¬der the context of texts, there is no point in privileging the reception in significa¬tion processes when identifying mean¬ing. The only accessible trace of the sig¬nification process, i.e. the text itself, might just as well be the focus of attention