Disintermediation and/or Neointermediation?
The “Fourth Power” of Small and Large Intermediaries
in Digital Public Sphere
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Submission date: 2020-06-03
Acceptance date: 2022-10-18
Publication date: 2023-06-28
Polish Sociological Review 2023;222(2):249-262
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ABSTRACT
The concept of “disintermediation” is one of the instruments used to interpret recent developments in
politics and communication, especially in digital media. Our thesis is that the concept of “disintermediation” can
be considered from two different perspectives. On the one hand, it can be interpreted in the strict historically
established sense. On this basis it may be argued that the internet has contributed to “disintermediate” traditional
intermediaries, surpassing in part the traditional intermediaries of the twentieth century (such as journalists).
On the other, “disintermediation” can be seen in broader, etymological, absolute and non-relative terms. In this
sense, the concept of “disintermediation” is no longer appropriate and consequently, based on experimental
results and a theoretical analysis of small and large digital intermediaries, we shall propose the concept of
“neointermediation.” This article presents the characteristics of neointermediaries, which are concentrating more
and more power and are of two sizes: small and large.