Table Of ContentTRANSFORMING COMMUNICATIONS – STUDIES IN CROSS-MEDIA RESEARCH
Ingrid Paus-Hasebrink,
Jasmin Kulterer
& Philip Sinner
SOCIAL INEQUALITY,
CHILDHOOD AND
THE MEDIA
A Longitudinal
Study of the
Mediatization
of Socialisation
Transforming Communications – Studies
in Cross-Media Research
Series Editors
Uwe Hasebrink
Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research
University of Hamburg
Hamburg, Germany
Andreas Hepp
ZeMKI
University of Bremen
Bremen, Germany
We live in times that are characterised by a multiplicity of media:
Traditional media like television, radio and newspapers remain important,
but have all undergone fundamental change in the wake of digitalization.
New media have been emerging with an increasing speed: Internet
platforms, mobile media and the many different software-based commu-
nication media we are recently confronted with as ‘apps’. This process is
experiencing yet another boost from the ongoing and increasingly fast
sequence of technological media innovations. In our modern social world,
communication processes take place across a variety of media. As a conse-
quence, we can no longer explain the influences of media by focusing on
any one single medium, its content and possible effects. In order to explain
how media changes are related to transformations in culture and society we
have to take into account the cross-media character of communications.
In view of this, the book series ‘Transforming Communications’ is
dedicated to cross-media communication research. It aims to support all
kinds of research that are interested in processes of communication taking
place across different kinds of media and that subsequently make media’s
transformative potential accessible. With this profile, the series addresses a
wide range of different areas of study: media production, representation
and appropriation as well as media technologies and their use, all from
a current as well as a a historical perspective. The series ‘Transforming
Communications’ lends itself to different kinds of publication within a
wide range of theoretical and methodological backgrounds. The idea is to
stimulate academic engagement in cross-media issues by supporting the
publication of rigorous scholarly work, text books, and thematically-fo-
cused volumes, whether theoretically or empirically oriented.
Editorial Board
Nick Couldry, LSE, UK
Kim Christian Schrøder, University of Roskilde, Denmark
Maren Hartmann, University of Arts Berlin, Germany
Knut Lundby, University of Oslo, Norway
Klaus Bruhn Jensen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Peter Lunt, University of Leicester, United Kingdom
Mirca Madianou, Goldsmiths College, University of London, United
Kingdom
Silvio Waisbord, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/15351
Ingrid Paus-Hasebrink · Jasmin Kulterer ·
Philip Sinner
Social Inequality,
Childhood
and the Media
A Longitudinal Study of the Mediatization
of Socialisation
Ingrid Paus-Hasebrink Jasmin Kulterer
University of Salzburg University of Klagenfurt
Salzburg, Austria Klagenfurt, Austria
Philip Sinner
University of Salzburg
Salzburg, Austria
Transforming Communications – Studies in Cross-Media Research
ISBN 978-3-030-02652-3 ISBN 978-3-030-02653-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02653-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018962859
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019. This book is an open access
publication.
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Dedicated To Our Families.
P
reface
This book, Social Inequality, Childhood and the Media: A Longitudinal
Study of the Mediatization of Socialisation, is based on an investigation
of the role of media within the socialisation of socially disadvantaged
children and their families in Austria. It was initiated by Ingrid Paus-
Hasebrink in 2005 and subsequently extended to cover adolescents. Our
study, therefore, aligns with three German books (Paus-Hasebrink &
Bichler, 2008; Paus-Hasebrink & Kulterer, 2014; Paus-Hasebrink (Ed.),
2017) and many articles in journals and chapters in edited volumes. It
provides insight into over twelve years of research in a challenging field
and tackles issues in developing theory and those of methodology. In
doing so, we pay special attention to the last six years, when our children
passed through their late childhood or adolescence, respectively.
Such a long-term project may be considered something akin to a gold
standard in order to research not only in the short-term but also cater
for development. The project was underpinned by the firm belief that
socially disadvantaged people, and children in particular, deserve the sup-
port of the whole society, of which academia is no less a part. Therefore,
the book follows the premise behind Norbert Elias’ idea of research,
namely that it is obligated to serve humanity (Elias, 1987); this means
its goal is both academic and social. On the one hand, it provides evi-
dence-based research on the role media plays at various stages in the lives
of the children in our panel. On the other, it advocates developing con-
cepts to enable different stakeholders to provide individualised support
vii
viii PREfACE
for children and their families. This book intends to draw attention to,
and raise awareness of, the situation of socially disadvantaged children,
their needs and rights.
However, we have to emphasise that it would have been impos-
sible to realise such a long-term project alone without support from
a wide range of people. We, therefore, wish to thank all those who
have supported us. firstly, we want to thank all 20 (later on 18) fami-
lies who invited us to their homes over and over again, although they
were simultaneously coping with everyday demands and challenges.
Secondly, a project like this needs a reliable partner keeping faith with
us. In this respect, we would like to thank The Anniversary fund of the
Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) for financing the whole study in
three separate peer-reviewed projects from 2005 to 2017. We felt par-
ticularly honoured when the project was invited to the 50th anniver-
sary of the fund and named a unique flagship project. Our thanks also
go to Salzburg University Library for supporting an open-access pub-
lication such as this. Without money nothing is possible, of course,
yet money is not everything. This saying is even more true of people.
Our thanks go to our great team: our project’s researchers, Michelle
Bichler, Anna Bramböck, Andreas Oberlinner, fabian Prochazka,
Daniel von Reinersdorff and Sebastian Reeh, and our secretary, Monika
Hoppenthaler. furthermore, we want to thank Uwe Hasebrink for his
critical reading of an earlier version of the manuscript and Hans-Ulrich
Sinner for his support in reviewing the citation and the references
of this book. finally, we want to thank Uwe Hasebrink and Andreas
Hepp; we are glad that our book is part of their series, Transforming
Communications – Studies in Cross-Media Research.
The German author, Thomas Mann, once said: To think and to thank
are related terms … (Denken und danken sind verwandte Wörter…).
With this in mind, we hope that this book will be a fruitful contribution
to the community at large. More specifically, we hope that it will serve
as a springboard for further research on socially disadvantaged children,
adolescents, families and the media.
Salzburg, Austria Ingrid Paus-Hasebrink
Klagenfurt, Austria Jasmin Kulterer
Salzburg, Austria Philip Sinner
PREfACE ix
references
Elias, N. (1987). Engagement und Distanzierung. Arbeiten zur Wissenssoziologie
I [Engagement and dissociation: Academic works on the sociology of knowl-
edge I]. frankfurt am Main, Germany: Suhrkamp.
Paus-Hasebrink, I. (Ed.). (2017). Langzeitstudie zur Rolle von Medien in der
Sozialisation sozial benachteiligter Heranwachsender. Lebensphase Jugend
[Longitudinal study on the role of media within socialisation of socially dis-
advantaged adolescents: Phase of adolescence]. Baden-Baden, Germany:
Nomos.
Paus-Hasebrink, I., & Bichler, M. (2008). Mediensozialisationsforschung.
Theoretische Fundierung und Fallbeispiel sozial benachteiligte Kinder
[Media socialisation research—Theoretical foundation and a case study on
socially disadvantaged children]. Assisted by C. Wijnen. Innsbruck, Austria:
Studienverlag.
Paus-Hasebrink, I., & Kulterer, J. (2014). Praxeologische Mediensozialisa-
tionsforschung. Langzeitstudie zu sozial benachteiligten Heranwachsenden
[Praxeological media socialisation research: A longitudinal study regard-
ing socially disadvantaged adolescents]. Assisted by P. Sinner. Baden-Baden,
Germany: Nomos.
c
ontents
1 Framing the Study 1
1.1 The Concept of This Book 2
1.2 An Overview of This Book 3
References 8
2 Social Inequality, Childhood and the Media 11
2.1 Introduction 11
2.2 National Contexts of Inequality 11
2.2.1 Social Disadvantage in Rich Western Societies 11
2.2.2 The Case of Austria and Germany 14
2.2.3 The Inequality Gap in Western Societies,
and in Austria and in Germany 16
2.3 Inequality and Mediatization 19
2.3.1 The Concept of Mediatization 19
2.3.2 Mediatization and Its Consequences for Socially
Disadvantaged Young People 22
2.3.3 Social Disadvantages and Media Experiences 26
2.4 Conclusion 31
References 33
3 The Role of Media Within Young People’s Socialisation:
A Theoretical Approach 45
3.1 Introduction 45
xi
