Distorian of the concept of «convergence» in the theoty of mass communication and other areas of humanities

Abstract

The article considers the legitimacy of using the concept of «convergence» in humanitarian knowledge in the meanings of «merger», «unification», «interaction», «interpenetration», «influence» and «organic unity». The author draws attention to the fact that modern researchers have significantly unreasonably expanded the concept of «convergence», and for this reason, the originally defined concept with a clear content has turned into a vague concept, and often in violation of the logical law of identity. Convergence in its original meaning, the author points out, is a process of convergence of unrelated groups, and when using this concept to explain evolutionary processes, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between the processes of convergence and merger, as well as to establish the degree of kinship of the phenomena under consideration. Incorrect application of terminology, in the author's opinion, can lead to confusion, distortion of information and wrong conclusions, as it is observed in the case of convergence.

Using traditional media and new forms of media that emerged as a result of the Internet as an example, the author explores the features of convergent and divergent evolution of media. As a result, the author comes to the conclusion that not all processes taking place in the media industry fit within the framework of convergence. The reasons for the changes are often different. Although convergence theory effectively describes some of the phenomena occurring in the media industry, the author encourages complementing it with other concepts for a more comprehensive analysis of changes in this area. Focusing research solely on convergence may obscure other important factors and causes of change, such as natural selection, artificial selection and mutations, which also affect media development.