What is a trend?

IF 6.1 1区文学 Q1 COMMUNICATION

Journal of Communication Pub Date : 2025-07-15 DOI:10.1093/joc/jqaf029

Devon Powers

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Trends are a common feature in the contemporary media and cultural environment as well as media and communication research. Yet trends remain undertheorized. This article seeks to address this gap. Rather than just a synonym for shift or change, I define trend as a temporally bounded, dynamic pattern of observable change and argue that such a concept deserves greater prominence within the study of media and communication. In addition to this definition, I theorize trends by characterizing the trend’s key features, exploring its relationship to media, and mapping its connection to questions that animate media and communication research. The case of “brat summer” of 2024 is offered as an exemplary case from which trend’s core features may be discerned. The article’s primary contribution is to advance the trend as a central concept through which communication and media studies researchers may think more comprehensively and critically about change.

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什么是趋势？

趋势是当代媒体与文化环境以及媒体与传播研究的共同特征。然而，趋势仍未得到充分的理论解释。本文试图解决这一差距。我将趋势定义为可观察到的变化的一种有时间界限的动态模式，而不仅仅是转变或变化的同义词，并认为这样的概念在媒体和传播的研究中应该得到更大的重视。除了这个定义之外，我还通过描述趋势的主要特征，探索其与媒体的关系，并将其与推动媒体和传播研究的问题联系起来，将趋势理论化。本文以2024年“臭小子之夏”为例，从中可以看出趋势的核心特征。这篇文章的主要贡献是将趋势作为一个中心概念推进，通过这个概念，传播和媒体研究人员可以更全面、更批判性地思考变化。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Communication COMMUNICATION-

CiteScore

11.60

自引率

5.10%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Communication, the flagship journal of the International Communication Association, is a vital publication for communication specialists and policymakers alike. Focusing on communication research, practice, policy, and theory, it delivers the latest and most significant findings in communication studies. The journal also includes an extensive book review section and symposia of selected studies on current issues. JoC publishes top-quality scholarship on all aspects of communication, with a particular interest in research that transcends disciplinary and sub-field boundaries.