Media use as social action – then and today

This contribution refers to the article “The ‘Media Use as Social Action’ approach: Theory, methodology, and research evidence so far,” published by Karsten Renckstorf and Fred Wester in 2001. Re-reading an article in media and communications studies that has been published 24 years ago, necessarily confronts us with the deep changes of the media environment and their implications for scholarly discourses. Against the background of these changes, we discuss the media use as social action approach regarding its theoretical perspective, its methodological approach, and the empirical evidence presented in the 2001 publication.