数字时代的政治传播:理论重构、议题革新与范式转向

Political Communication in the Digital Age:Theoretical Framework,Research Agenda,and Paradigm Shift

数字时代以来,技术革新与信息传播的加速不断重构政治过程,成为理解政治现象不可或缺的关键所在。数字技术如何重构政治传播的理论版图,数字时代给政治传播乃至政治学研究带来了哪些全新的议题,以实验与计算政治学为代表的方法论革新又带来了哪些全新的研究机遇,意味着研究范式的何种转向?本文以传播与政治互构的视角梳理数字时代政治传播的理论框架,使用文献计量方法分析该领域在2012至2021年间发表于国际顶级期刊的逾两千篇前沿研究论文,归纳出“基于信息茧房的舆论极化”“多主体跨平台的政治信息流动”等六大前沿议题及其研究方法。研究发现,数字时代的政治传播研究正在经历范式转向,即研究主体由垂直方向的政治传播向水平方向的政治沟通发展,研究重心由媒介效果向信息传播效果转移,研究视阈从国家社会互动向全球互动扩展,研究路径由多学科向后学科化演进。

The proliferation of Information Communication Technologies(ICT)has accelerated the dissemination of information,reshaping every aspect of political processes.Information and communication have become an indispensable key to understanding politics in the digital age.How does technology⁃mediated communication transform the theoretical framework of political communication research?What kinds of new topics does the digital age brought about to political science research?What new research opportunities do methodological innovations such as experimental and computational methods offer?Does the emergence of new theories,methods,and research topics imply a paradigm shift in political communication research?This paper aims to address these questions through a theoretical perspective of communication⁃politics mutual construction.Using a method of bibliometrics,I analyzed over 2,000 cutting⁃edge studies that have been published in 15 prestigious international journals on the topic of political communication during 2012 to 2021.This analysis shows that six topics including Echo chamber⁃induced Opinion Polarization and Multi⁃Agent Cross⁃Platform Flow of Political Information remark the major research topics of political communication in the digital age.I then summarize the literature and the research methods on these topics.This research reveals that the study of political communication in the digital age is undergoing a paradigm shift.That is,the perspective of theorization has shifted from vertical to horizontal political communication and the focus of research is shifting from media effects to effects of information dissemination.The scope of research has rapidly expanded from state⁃society interaction within nation states to political communication in a global arena.The research methods of political communication have been evolving from a multidisciplinary to a post⁃disciplinary approach.