Abstract
The practical sense of everyday life is of vital importance to the analysis of media use. This sense shapes the selection of media content, the mode of processing, and the functions of media use related to social and political action as well as to the social identity of actors. Weiß presents a systematization of general principles, according to which the practical sense organizes an individual’s perception and actions: success–virtue–self-actualization. Therefore, he draws on Bourdieu’s theory of practice and extends it on the basis of Habermas’ theory of communicative action. Research findings on social milieus are used to describe how the general principles of practical sense are differentiated in society. The heuristic utility of the praxeological perspective is illustrated using a study on communicative milieus.
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Notes
- 1.
Krämer (2013) gives an overview of how the various areas and approaches of research on media use can be classified and at the same time systematized into an analysis of media use as a practice.
- 2.
- 3.
Bourdieu examines more strongly focused fields, but here we are dealing with the basic principles of a theory of practice.
- 4.
- 5.
For a more detailed discussion of Bourdieu‘s habitus concept, see Weiß (2009b).
- 6.
Berger and Luckmann in their sociology of knowledge speak of the “paradox” that “man is capable of producing a world which he then experiences differently from a human product” (1969/1996, p. 65). This paradox is due to the optics of instrumental taxation. Concern for individual self-interest treats the structure of social relations as a pre-established condition; their recognition is a comparative assessment of what they contribute to the subjective success project. With this perspective subjectivism, action occurs in the present structures and reproduces them as if they were objectively imposed circumstances and not created by action.
- 7.
This self-perception is also characterized by a particular perspective. This is illustrated, for example, by the circumstance described by Bourdieu where holders of higher social positions seem inclined to perceive the potencies, which they owe to the power of their position or property, as the expression of particular subjective merits. Conversely, agents sometimes blame a failure on themselves, as a lack of abilities, if they do not have the means to fully control the outcome of their undertakings (as, for example, in examinations).
- 8.
For a detailed derivation and presentation, see Weiß (2001).
- 9.
- 10.
A recent study provides an up-to-date overview of the interplay between political value orientations and communication practices that is representative of Germany. This supplies a comprehensive tableau of political-communicative milieus, which can be used as a basis for the analysis of the role of media (Kösters & Jandura, 2019).
- 11.
On the basis of his findings, principles are discussed that relate to the spheres of professional life and politics. The subjective orientations in private life do not occur in his study because of the questions.
- 12.
What Begenat finds here corresponds largely with the analyses by Kitschelt (1994) on the role of professional positions for basic political attitudes.
- 13.
It shares this property with the milieu of the market-oriented elite. But, all basics separate the milieus: standards for the assessment of politics, the perceived representation of one’s own position in political space and in the media (which the elite considers guaranteed but social-authoritarians miss), and subsequently the practice of media-mediated communication participation. Even this singular feature, political interest, cannot determine what regulates media use.
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Weiß, R. (2020). The Praxeology of Media Use. In: Krämer, B., Frey, F. (eds) How We Use the Media . Transforming Communications – Studies in Cross-Media Research. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41313-2_2
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