Mediality: the cultural-symbolic sphere of social practice
Abstract: At least since the practical complexity of media landscapes is growing, the theoretical complexity of media communication has to be widened (horizon and frame) and deepened (focus) — especially when fulfilling the mission and the quality of science: generating complexity on a level of logical theory towards a subject that is not an object by itself but a culturally programmed metaphor of description: communication, culture, society etc. The complexity of communication, media or society is not a character of those constructs themselves but a complexity of thinking, in practice hopefully reduced, in theory hopefully produced. Facing communication (more) as a cultural performance of humanness and of social practice and facing media (more hermeneutically than technically) demands to conceptualize those constructs as models of knowledge, as culturally programs in search of mindful meaning and meaningful relevance of social /societal life. Therefore, there is need of a shifting paradigm from functional, objectivist concepts to hermeneutically open concepts — not only, but also to generate a wider frame of analysis and interpretation of social and cultural change referred through the mediality character of communication and society. So called social media are not new media but show the possibility as well the challenge and chance of change of media orders. Of course, that demands other (new) competence concepts of social practice.
Bauer, Thomas A: (2021) : Mediality: the cultural-symbolic sphere of social practice. In: Galáxia (São Paulo online) ISSN Publicação Continua. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1982-2553202151775 No 46, 2o21, pp. 1 – 21
Vivo, ergo sum-sanus: Communication studies facing Heart as a construction of social knowledge
Abstract: A constructive theoretical view of everyday topics (in this paper context, we mean health) allows us to spot on communication models and cultural features of important daily aspects. This paper holds health up as a model of knowledge inside cultural programme fields. By drawing on this theoretical and scientist communication context, the relationship between health and its development can be shown as a pattern of life, taking always into consideration social conditions. Aunque la mayoría de los científicos compartan hoy el supuesto de que las ideas de salud y enfermedad son construcciones sociales relativas a estados físicos, psíquicos o sociales, sin embargo, todavía se mantienen planteamientos teóricos que, equivocadamente, conciben la salud o la enfermedad en relación con la comunicación. Este artículo busca fijar ambos conceptos –salud y enfermedad– en el marco de los estudios culturales, con la ayuda de la teoría de la observación y con referencias a una teoría sistémica constructiva.
Bauer, Thomas A. (2006): Vivo, ergo sum-sanus: Communication studies facing health as a construction of social knowledge. In: comunicar 1/2006, Madrid