Research focus areas at the chair of Prof. Imhof

Public communication is the subject of our social analysis. The focus of our research is on how our society, its institutions and organisations are changing through the medium of the public sphere. Our main interest results in three research problems:

1. The question of social change focuses on a systematic monitoring and analysis of modern societies through public communication. Crises and periods of upheaval and radical change in social development, when existing concepts and structures change radically in a very short period of time, are particularly interesting. We offer a comparative analysis of the selection and development of effective communication dynamics in different countries over a long period of time.

2. The question of the structural transformation of the public sphere focuses on changes in public communication and its effects on society. We analyse the change in mutual communication relations between the spheres of the media, economy and politics; the general change in the media and the change in selection and interpretation logics of the media (personalisation, moralisation, etc.) in a long-term perspective and for different countries.

3. The question of the change in organisations focuses on effects of mediatisation, meaning the transformation of action systems, their institutions and organisations as a consequence of the structural transformation of the public sphere. The analysis of the change in the ways to acquire reputation, in the selection of personnel and in the structures of organisation and institutions in modern media societies are at the focus of research.

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