International Journal of Mass Communication

From Postcolonial Histories to Digital Futures: Rethinking Global Communication in the Global South

2026-07-06T13:47:31+00:00

This essay invites scholars of global communication to rethink the field from a broader perspective. It challenges the dominant theoretical traditions that have long shaped research in global communication and argues for greater openness to interdisciplinary approaches capable of fostering a more expansive epistemological framework. By examining global communication through both historical and postcolonial lens, the paper calls for a multidimensional framework in which history and postcolonial experiences are theorized in more rigorous ways for scholars seeking to study communication from a Global South perspective, thereby expanding the analytical relevance and reach of the discipline.

Bridging the Second-Level Digital Divide: Prioritizing Emotional and Social Literacy through Intergenerational Communication in Rural China

2026-07-06T13:50:28+00:00

Based on interviews with 52 Xianchong Village residents, this study shows older adults value emotional comfort, relational ties, and family support in digital inclusion. Rather than technical skills alone, seniors emphasize well-being and social cohesion when using technology. Intergenerational communication—especially reciprocal family learning—reduces digital alienation, reflecting Confucian ideals of filial piety and responsibility, especially in rural contexts dominated by family networks. While some barriers resemble first-level divides, findings mainly address second-level dynamics, highlighting emotional and social aspects of digital literacy. Mechanisms such as reassurance, cultural continuity, and reciprocity persist across technological shifts, reframing digital inequality as relational and affective, and revealing how enduring cultural norms shape engagement.

Niklas Luhmann and the Risks of Moral Communication: Polemogeny and Modernity

2026-07-06T13:54:21+00:00

Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory offers a radical rethinking of morality and society, conceptualizing the latter not as a collection of human beings grounded on a moral consensus, but rather as a collection of operationally closed systems of communications. Within this framework, morality is identified as a specific, highly volatile form of communication characterized by the binary code of respect and disrespect, or esteem and disesteem. This medium does not integrate modern society in the way classical thinkers within the sociological tradition such as Émile Durkheim imagined. Rather, in a world defined by the evolution of functional differentiation, morality assumes a provocative "alarm function" that frequently generates more conflict than it resolves, a condition Luhmann identifies as inherently "polemogenous". As a remedy to the contemporary overproduction of moral discourse and moral panics, I propose that a Luhmannian approach must emphasize pluralism and the autonomy of systems.