Swarm democracy, fragmented public sphere and digital law: contributions of legal sociology of media to the post-Gutenberg galaxy period

This paper aims to present an approach to legal sociology that schematically profiles the main means of communication (dissemination) with "stages" in the evolution of society, the state, law and "legal subjectivity" (cultural forms). The main focus of the discussion will be a comprehensive interpretation of the work of Thomas Vesting. The proposal is to: (a) present in a schematic and interpretative way the authors' 3 "ideal types" of "society-state-media-culture"; (b) discuss the limits and possibilities of this proposal, in which we seek to reduce the "cultural" focus of Vesting's latest works and return to the more markedly focused studies of the broadcast media. (c) To this end, the contribution seeks to bring to the debate provocative contributions that are less centered on cultural elements and more focused on a sociology of the media. It follows considerations of the sociological characteristics of the current legal system at a time when we seem to be facing the "End of the Gutenberg Galaxy"; that is, a moment in which the "world of the printed book" seems to be losing its paradigmatic space.