Media and Political Meaning in a Post-Truth World

Niklas Luhmann posited that ‘meaning' was sociology’s basic concept but that the attention paid to it by the discipline was “rather modest” (Luhmann 1990a, 21). Not only is it essential for an individual or social system to make sense of the complex world, but it also makes it possible for the observer to establish its own identity through recursion. In a world that is only increasing in complexity, with ever-new distinctions being drawn, including themes such as ‘identity politics’ and profilitic identities constituted by new forms of media (Moeller/D’Ambrosio 2021), meaning itself seems to be disappearing across its horizon. The political landscape and how it is shaped and reflected in the media seems to have undergone a vast change in the last decade or so.