French Literature Reviews - 2026

Y. Citton, Médiarchie
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas

Bibliographic reference: Y. Citton, Médiarchie

Paris, Seuil, coll. "La couleur des idées"

2017, 423 pages

• EAN13: 9782021349122
• €23

Publisher's overview

We imagine ourselves living in democracies, yet we inhabit médiarchies. For rather than peoples or individuals, it is the publics shaped by the media that form the foundations of our political regimes. Even when we denounce the "power of the media," we barely grasp the extent to which they condition our perceptions, thoughts, and actions, both individual and collective.
By bridging currents of thought outside our critical and academic traditions, Yves Citton significantly revitalizes our conceptual toolkit, rolling up his sleeves to reframe our debates. Ranging from ecofeminism to network sociology, from deep learning algorithms to infrastructure archaeology, from demonology to engineering design, and from mediactivism to médiartivism, the journey he proposes broadens our theoretical horizon and political imagination by exploring alternative ways of thinking about "media."
We cannot hope to escape the conditioning exerted upon us, among us, through us, and within us by our médiarchies. However, this book aims to help us better perceive this conditioning, better understand it—and be less subjected to it.

Yves Citton is Professor of Literature and Media at Université Paris 8, having previously taught at Université Grenoble Alpes. He co-directs the journal Multitudes and has published, among other works, with Éditions Amsterdam, Mythocratie (2010) and Zazirocratie (2011), and with Seuil, Renverser l’insoutenable (2012) and Pour une écologie de l’attention (2014).

The study of media ecology and the sociology of communication has long grappled with how technological infrastructures influence human perception and collective behavior. This work situates itself within a broader intellectual tradition that questions the autonomy of the political subject. It draws upon diverse fields, including network sociology, infrastructure archaeology, and ecofeminism, to investigate how the mediation of information structures the foundations of contemporary democratic life and influences the ways in which individuals relate to one another.

The text discusses the nature of media conditioning, suggesting that thoughts and actions are shaped by the environments we inhabit. By incorporating perspectives from demonology, engineering design, and media activism, the author explores how these influences constitute a médiarchie that governs society. The analysis focuses on the mechanisms through which media environments exert power, aiming to foster a clearer perception of these structures. Readers interested in the intersection of media studies, political philosophy, and contemporary social theory may find this examination of the conditioning effects of media relevant.