32 —= Knut Lundby tive concept there may be a range of normative issues involved with mediatization processes, This research must be prepared to answer the question: to what extent are “media” changing the lives of people for better or worse? What are the moral and ethical consequences of “mediatization”? 8 Guide to handbook readers T have outlined three perspectives on mediatization of communication: A Cultural perspective focusing transformations in the symbolic environment in and outside of the media; a Material perspective concemed with the technological media char. acteristics as key to changes; and an Institutional perspective that studies how the media and various institutions in society change according to different institu- tional logics. These are ideal types, as researchers may apply more than one per- spective in theit work. The naming of each perspective points to the focus in actttal mediatization research. For example, studies with a cultural perspective may also consider specificities of the media that are involved in communication but it rather the symbolic aspects of the interaction that are in focus and not the media specificities as such, as within the material perspective. Similarly, the institutional perspective is concerned with specificities of the media but the pattem o! tional interactions is the focus. All three perspectives have strengths and weak- nesses, and there are links between them, as will be displayed throughout this volume. The contributors to this handbook may agree that mediatization implies long processes of structural change that take place in the interrelation between develop. ments of the mediated communication in society and changes in the social, politi- cal, and cultural context, transforming practices as well as institutions. However, they dispute over certain aspects of mediatization. For the sake of overview I have presented the issues of contention, as I see them, under the headings of Time, Technology, and Theory. The matrix where the three perspectives meet the types of debated issues has already been presented in Figure 1 in 1.2 above, with key- words on the various positions taken in this field. The scaffold in Figure 1 has been expanded throughout the introduction. Hopefully, this serves as a guide to the tour that awaits the reader in the following chapters. ue References ‘Agha, Asif. 2011. Meet mediatization. Editorial. Language & Communication 31(3): 163-170. Altheide, David L, 2023. Media logic, social control, and fear. Corimunication Theory 23(3): 223- 238 Altheide, David L. and Robert P. Snaw. 1979. Media Logic. Beverly Hills: Sage.