Contemporary epistemology in social sciences: from general issues to the studies of mediatization in communication

Abstract

From the reflection on the constituent aspects of contemporary epistemology in social sciences, this article seeks to delineate perspectives and challenges to the studies of mediatization in communication. Through a bibliographic review, we present, initially, a brief historical overview of the constitution of the social sciences, in order to point out the specificities of social research and communication research and challenges imposed by the phenomenon of mediatization to communicational studies. In this way, the text reveals that the course of historical constitution and institutionalization of the social sciences points out clues for facing possible obstacles to the elaboration of the
concept and, perhaps, of a theory of mediatization.