Abstract
The chapter introduces the book on audience transformations, but also discusses the audience/society transformations, and their interactions, that characterise the 21st century. The chapters opens with a reference to the long history of sociological and philosophical work that has been mesmerised by social change. 20th (and 21st) century social theory has not lost this fascination.
These theoretical reflections are then used to sketch contemporary audience transformations, and how they are embedded in societal transformations, but also in societal continuities.