This paper addresses the question of personalization from a conceptual perspective. It claims that the concept often has been referred to and used in a rather arbitrary way, something that has obscured the empirical findings and rendered the concept theoretically ambiguous. Thus, in order to enhance the relevance and utility of the concept, it is suggested that distinctions should be made between three dimensions of personalization: 1) personification, 2) orientation towards persona, and 3) intimization. Moreover, distinctions should also be made between different appearance forms (e.g. appearances as subject, appearances as object, and appearances in images). Hitherto, the question of different appearance forms has been highly neglected. Leaning on the works of Manin (1994, 1997), it is also suggested that the overall trend towards personalization should be conceived of in relation to an ongoing transformation of the political system. Thus, while mediatization certainly should be considered a driving force, it is claimed that also an increased incentive of political actors to cultivate personal mandates is fuelling the process of personalization. With this view, personalization is not the result of a process of colonization. Instead, personalization is conceived of as a two-way process: While the logic of the news media system may be important, it should also be acknowledged that political actors are strategic actors who – to some extent – can be assumed to “go personal” in order to acquire more personal leeway.
