Olivier Driessens

Olivier Driessens

Tenure Track Assistant Professor

Primary fields of research

My research is concerned with the consequences of mediation in terms of unequal visibility and attention, recognition and changes in the social and cultural fabric. It is situated at the intersection of the following research areas:
- Media sociology
- Media and social theory
- Digital media and communications
- Social and cultural change

Current research

My first project broadens my earlier work on celebrity and aims at better understanding the relationships between (in)visibility and attention. In a next step, I will analyse and theorise the cultural changes of this relationship. 

Second, I am studying the mediation of recognition, with a particular interest in how evaluative infrastructures, such as feedback systems and review scores, alter recognition and with what social, cultural and ethical consequences.

Third, building upon my longstanding interest in mediatisation studies, I am working on a theoretical and methodological framework to study media-related social and cultural change and continuity from a critical realist perspective.

Teaching

I am teaching on the MA and can supervise students in areas mentioned above.

ID: 188941684