The professorship represents the field of Media Studies in its breadth while simultaneously focusing on digitalization and social responsibility. Digitalization permeates all areas of life, fundamentally changing media production, content, and usage. Hence, media and communication studies are also "digitalization studies." This has been the case not only since digitalization became a top priority for politics and business but for more than three decades. From the perspective of a socially and culturally grounded, interdisciplinary media studies, it's crucial to grasp digitalization in its technical, economic, legal, ethical, and social dimensions to analyze individual and societal causes and consequences of changed media behavior and to engage in societal discourse.
With this understanding of the field and knowing that processes of delimitation are accelerating – whether between communicators and recipients, public and private spheres, journalism and public relations, national and transnational media cultures, or information and entertainment – the chair focuses on two thematic areas: one encompasses the relationship between public spheres, media, democracy, and is situated more at the macro level, the other focuses on social inequality, on inclusion and exclusion in and through media, taking a micro- and meso-level perspective. Central to this are the transformation processes through digitally networked media, the formation of protest movements and alternative publics, the inclusion and exclusion of social groups, opportunities for participation, media action, and media appropriation. Research on media and stereotypes from an intersectional perspective allows for connecting these thematic areas, grounding them theoretically, and addressing them empirically, for instance, by examining the reproduction of gender stereotypes and racism through algorithms and artificial intelligence.
A key concern for the scientists working at the chair is to represent a public theory-based, participation-oriented, (ideology-)critical stance both within and outside the university, and to communicate digitalization as a complex and consequential phenomenon that can nevertheless be actively shaped. Knowledge transfer is intended to occur in multiple directions. With the new focus "Public Sphere and Responsibility" of the Tübingen Master's program in Media Studies, there are ample opportunities to impart knowledge on public spheres, media cultures, and responsible media action to students and all interested citizens with the goal of invigorating societal discourse.
