Effects of Television Viewing on Family Functioning

7/30/2019 Effects of Television Viewing on Family Functioning

1/29

SOME EFFECTS OF TELEVISION VIEWING ON FAMILY FUNCT IONIN Gby

SAM NEAL BRAUDT. B.A.A T H E S I S

INHUMAN DEVE LOPMENT AND FAMILY STUD IES

Submitted to the Graduate Facultyof Texas Tech University inPartial Fulfillment ofthe Requirements forthe Degree ofMASTER OF SCIENCE

INHOME ECONOMICS

Approved

Accepted

May, 1988


2/29

Copyright 1988 Sam Neal Braudt


3/29

ACKBOVLEDGMENTS

I wish to thank my wife, Ina Braudt, my daughters, Anne Braudt andJennifer Braudt, and my mother, Faye Braudt, for much-needed support andencouragement during this most recent academic undertaking. Theirpatient understanding has been vital.

My debt to the members of my committeeBrad Keeney, Neal Newfield,and Scott Pollardgoes beyond the customary gratitude for help andadvice. For the past two years they have served as partners in theprovocative conversation of ideas on which the present work is based.Their generous contributions of time and thought have been invaluable andwill not be forgotten.

Especial thanks go to Melissa Keeney. As an informal fourth memberof my committee, her stimulating comments and frank enthusiasm have beena consistent source of renewal and inspiration.

ii


4/29

C O N T E H T S

A C O O V L E D G M E N T S i iCHAPTER

I. EVOLUTION OF MEDIA RESEARCH AND THEORY 1General Trends in Television Research 2Contributions of McLuhan and Innis 3SituationsSome Fundamental Concepts 5The Work of Joshua Meyrowitz 9

II. SITUATIONS AS INFORMATION SYSTEMS 11New Media Create New Situations and New Behavior 12Middle and Deep Back Regions 13Media Effects on Group Identity 14Ways in Which Socialization is Affected by

Electronic Media 15Influence of Media on Authority 15Effects of Media on Polite Behavior and

Topics of Conversation 16III. MEDIA AND FAMILIES 18

Implications for Role Theory 18Implications for Family Systems 20Concluding Remarks 22

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 23

iii


5/29

CHAPTER IEVOLUTION OF MEDIA RESEARCH AND THEORY

Families are ubiquitous, and always have been. Television, while ithas only been around for a few decades, is catching up fast: it spreadfrom only 9% of American homes in 1950 to 96% in 1970 (Nielsen, 1977).Its familiar flickering glow is seen in family homes and bedrooms, inairport lobbies and prison cells. Ve quickly come to take for grantedanything which is a consi ant part of our living environment, adapting itto our needs in the process. One recent study of television viewinghabits found that more than a third of the viewers of a typical hour-longtelevision program do not watch the program to the end, that about 40%of viewers in cable households "always" or "often" search for anotherprogram during commercial breaks, and that 40-50% of television viewersare eating, washing the dishes, talking on the telephone, or reading whilewatching television (Television Audience Assessment, Inc., 1983).Television has become part of the fabric of our existence, as unremarkedas the dining table or the family dog. Analysis of this remarkablegrowth and its effects, in terms of anything beyond simple summarystatistics, began only fairly recently. It is the purpose of this thesisto describe the thrust of television theory and research, with emphasison the more recent media theorists and their concepts. Particularattention will be given to implications of their work for certain aspectsof family theories.


6/29

General Trends in Television ResearchMass media bypass traditional limitations on communication. Anyone

with access to a printing press, a radio microphone, or a televisioncamera can pass on a message to a very large number of individuals whoare remote in place and possibly in time as well. Initial research onmedia focused on the messages carried and on their potential for stirringa mass or mob reaction.

Over the past two decades, however, such writers as MarshallMcLuhan (1964) and Joshua Meyrowitz (1985), along with Theodore Roszak(1986), Gary Gumpert (1987), Gregor Goethals (1981), Neal Postman (1982,1985), E. Ann Kaplan (1987), and Jerry Mander (1978), have dealt withqualities and effects intrinsic to the electronic media, especiallytelevision. They view media not merely as neutral channels that deliverinformation, but as forces that also impact behavior, perception, andsocial situations in specific ways that are largely independent of theparticular content of the medium at any specific point in time. In thissense, McLuhan's catchy phrase, "The medium is the message," is literallytrue, Joshua Meyrowitz, in the communications department at theUniversity of New Hampshire, has integrated such media theory with theconcepts of Erving Goffman, producing a higher-order analysis with manyimplications for family life, political activity, and social order. Thework of McLuhan, Meyrowitz, and Goffman will be treated at some lengthfurther on. The remainder of this thesis will discuss some recentdevelopments in media theory and their possible contributions to anenrichment of family theory.


7/29

Contributions of McLuhan and InnisMcLuhan (1964) was a student of medieval literature, an English

teacher with a fascination for print media, and, later, for electronicmedia, especially television. In his initial work on the effects ofprinting on culture he was influenced by the writing of politicaleconomist Harold Adams Innis (1964). Innis argued that different mediahave different potentialities for control. A specialized medium that isdifficult to decode is, according to Innis, more likely to be dominated byan elite with the capacity to limit access to it. On the other hand, amedium that is readily accessible to ordinary persons tends todemocratize a culture. Printed editions of the Bible translated into thevulgate reduced the authority of the priestly caste, who until then hadwielded power in part due to their monopoly of Latin literacy and in partowing to ownership of manuscript Bibles being restricted almost entirelyto clergy and monastic orders.

Innis (1964) also called attention to two important properties (or"biases," in his term) of media: a given medium tends to last a longeror shorter time, and it travels more or less easily across longdistances. He held, for example, that such "time-biased" media as stonecarvings lead to relatively small, stable societies, since such carvings

are difficult to update and because their limited mobility makes them anawkward means for keeping in touch with remote outposts. In contrast,the "space-biased" papyrus of the Romans allowed them to maintain a largeempire with a centralized government that exercised authority overdistant provinces, but at the cost of more social change and greater


8/29

instability (the latter due to the relative ephemerallty of ink marks onpaper).

McLuhan (1964) added the notion of "sensory balance" to Innis's(1964) concepts of information monopolies and media "biases." He lookedat media as extensions of human senses, and surmised that technologiesaffect the organization of the senses in particular ways. Drawing on hisbackground as a literary historian, McLuhan demarcated three main periodsof human culture: oral, writing/printing, and electronic. Hecharacterized the oral world of the hunter-gatherer tribe as a closedsociety of high interdependence and low individuality. The addition ofwriting and, especially, of print tend to make the sense of sightdominant while minimizing the immediacy of sound and touch. Print-oriented cultures become more introspective, rational, and individualistic,in McLuhan's view. With print comes abstract thought: the "invention" ofwritten Greek around 1400 B.C. led quickly, in historical terms, to theHomeric epics and Socratic dialogues which have held sway over Europeanculture and thought for the succeeding two millenia.

The characteristics of print lead people to more linear, cause-and-effect ways of thinking. Allegiances shift from the immediate neighborsof an oral culture to an abstract "nation" or to a society of peers

scattered over time and space but united in print by shared concepts andvalues ("The Community of Scholars," "The Dialogue of the Ages"). ToMcLuhan (1964), many of the qualities of Western rationality andcivilized behavior are derived from the influence of the printing press.

Electronic media such as television, in McLuhan's (1964) opinion,extend our senses to embrace the planet; we regain the immediacy of


9/29

n e i g h b o r s i n a sm a l l v i l l a g e , b u t o n a p l a n e t a r y s c a l e . E l e c t r o n i c m e di al e v e l t i m e s a nd p l a c e s , make e x p e r i e n c e s i n s t a n t l y r e p e a t a b l e f o r t h emasses , and add complex i ty to the spec t rum of communica t ion forms.

In add i t ion , a l though each new medium t ransforms cu l tu re , and ,a rg ua bly , modes of co ns c io us ne ss , i t does no t de s t r oy o ld fo rms ofcommunica t ion bu t ra the r supplement s and complement s them whi le a t t hesam e t i m e su b t l y a n d p r o f o u n d l y a l t e r i n g t he m . T he i m p o r t a n t u n d e r l y i n gp r i n c i p l e i s f ir m l y r o o t e d i n sy s t e m s t h e o r y a n d e c o l o g i c a l t h e o r y : w hena n e w f a c t o r i s a d d e d t o a n e x i s t i n g e n v i r o n m e n t , t h e r e su l t i s n o t t h eo l d e n v i ro n m e n t p l u s t h e new e l e m e n t , b u t , r a t h e r , a d i s t i n c t l y newe n v i r o n m e n t .

This l ine of argument leads McLuhan (1964) to the view that theform of a communicat ion has an impact beyond the over t content of themessage se n t . Whi le no t denying th e s ig n i f i c an ce of message con ten t , hei s p r i m a r i l y i n t e r e s t e d i n a d i f f e r e n t d i m en s io n of a n a l y s i s .

Al though the work of such theoris ts as Innis (1964) and McLuhan( 1 9 6 4 ) d r a w s h e a v i l y o n i n s i g h t s a n d i n t u i t i o n s w h i c h se e m t o r i n g t r u e ,they prov ide more of a pe rspec t ive fo r s tudying the e f fec t s o f media onb e h a v i o r th a n a d e t a i l e d t h e o r y . W hat i s m i s s i n g i s a n y r e a l a t t e m p t t ol i n k t h e s y s t e m s c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f m e d i a w i t h t h e s t r u c t u r e a n dpr oc es se s o f eve ryda y so c i a l (and hence fami ly) in t e ra c t io n . We now tur nt o a b o d y o f w o r k d e a l i n g w i t h s i t u a t i o n s a n d b e h a v i o r .

,^ i ; tu^t inn^Some Fundamenta l ConceptsS o c i o l o g i s t s h a v e l o n g r e c o g n i z e d t h e i m p o r t a n c e o f so c i a l

s i t u a t i o n s . W. I . T ho ma s (1 9 28 ) su g g e s t e d t h a t i f we d e f i n e s i t u a t i o n s a s


10/29

real, they become real in their consequences. Each culture or groupconstructs rules and roles for a variety of defined situations. A funeraldemands different behavior than a wedding; a fraternity party's implicitrules differ from those of a classroom. Although constructed, ratherthan innate, the rules and roles for situations do constitute socialreality in a meaningful way; no one would attempt to behave in the firstsituation of each of the above pairs as they would normally behave in thesecond.

People entering an interaction need to know how the situation isdefined, need to know "What is going on here?" in order to behavecorrectly. To know the definition of a situation is to know much aboutthe nature of the encounter and the patterns that govern it, to know whatis permitted ("mourners cry") as well as what is forbidden ("brides don'tpreach").

Closely related to the sociological concept of situations is the ideaof behavior settings propounded by the social psychologist Roger Barkerin his groundbreaking Ecological Psychology (1968). Barker and hiscolleagues derived empirical decision rules for defining and delimitingreal-life behavior settings and their degree of functional interdependenceIn human communities. These constructs, which in the opinion of the

present author hold great potential for both systems and media theorists,have unfortunately been neglected even within the field of psychology andare essentially unknown to media theorists.

As Goffman suggests in Frame Analysis (1974), situationaldefinitions can become quite complicated. A situation can have a"primary framework" (such as "fighting") and also have several overlays


11/29

of context ("playing at fighting," or even "actor portraying a playfight"). Amazingly enough, however, most ordinary adult members of agroup or culture can "read" the definition of even complicated situationsquickly and accurately. Indeed, Goffman points out, it is often much moredifficult for researchers to identify, define, and study situations than itis for the average citizen to navigate them.

This quick, intuitive identification of and response to situations isnot innate. It is, rather, the product of a long learning process. To aconsiderable extent, socialization in fact consists of learning todistinguish among situations and to narrow down one's behavior to therelatively limited range appropriate to a given situation. We frequentlyare only minimally aware of the process of making these distinctions,perhaps because we tend to focus on what is consistent in our behaviorfrom situation to situation (our "identity") while minimizing the ways ourbehavior changes as we go from one situation to another.

Goffman's (1959) work on situations provides some useful cluesregarding the impact of new media on social roles. He describes sociallife using the metaphor of drama. To Goffman, we each play many roles ona variety of different social stages, offering a different, somewhat"edited" version of ourselves to each audience. The performance of asocial role, to Goffman, is a teal performance: it displays selectedbehaviors for selected time periods, behaviors which must be, to someextent, planned and rehearsed. Just as in a Broadway play, the stagemust be set, the performers must monitor their actions, and the rolesenacted on one stage must be kept separate from those displayedelsewhere.


12/29

8Embellishing his metaphor of the situation as drama, Goffman (1959)

suggests that any person's behavior in a given setting can be dividedinto two major categories: "back region," or backstage behavior, and"front region," or onstage behavior. In front regions, where performersare before their audience for a particular role, they play a relativelystylized conception of the demands of that role. For example, waiters inthe dining room of a resturant are in a front region; they demonstratesuch traits as courtesy, efficiency, and cleanliness. They do not chatintimately with the diners, nor do they comment on their patrons' eatinghabits or table manners.

When waiters go from the dining room into the kitchen area, however,they cross from the onstage area to a backstage region, where they arehidden from the customers who constitute their audience. They share thisbackstage area with others who perform similar roles (busboys, cooks,other waiters) and who when backstage are likewise hidden from thecustomers who constitute their audience. Here they may comment on theuncouth habits of a customer, discuss the best way to appeal to acustomer's vanity in hopes of getting a big tip, or openly sneeze andcough near food trays. In general, Goffman (1959) maintains, virtuallyall role performers (which means all of us) tend to have back regions

where they and their fellow players relax, rehearse, develop strategiesfor future performances, and joke about their behavior in front regions.Goffman emphasizes that even back region behavior constitutes a sort ofrole enactment, one in which teammates will not tolerate formal, frontregion style manners.


13/29

As we saw to be the case with the media theory of Innis (1964) andMcLuhan (1964), situation theory, as developed by Goffman (1959, 1974)and others, has not produced a set of linked propositions describing thephenomena under study. There has been little work explaining the generalprocess through which situations affect behavior, there have been fewattempts to predict why and how social situations evolve, and there havebeen almost no analyses of how behavior may be expected to change when asituation changes.

Elegant as his observations and analysis are, Goffman's (1959, 1974)work is no exception in this regard. Though presenting a rich source ofdata on human behavior, Goffman has basically provided us with countlessdetailed observations and with few integrating theories. His writings,which treat scholarly material in an almost novelistic fashion, do notreadily yield up abstract principles. In addition, each of his worksstands alone, relatively self-sufficient, with few hints on how it relatesto his other writings.

The Work of Joshua MeyrowitzMeyrowitz (1985) may exemplify a new generation of students of

human behavior. Broadly read in several fields, including communicationstheory and sociology, he sets for himself the task of integrating thebest insights of disciplines which hitherto have been perceived asdistinct and as bearing little or no relation to one another.

At the outset of his attempt to link media theory and situationtheory, Meyrowitz notes that:

On the surface, the two bodies of literature seemincompatible. They each suggest something about the social


14/29

10order, but they do not overlap. The media theorists describehow media reshape large cultural environments and institutionalstructures, but they do not tell us much about the ways inwhich media reshape specific social situations or everydaysocial behaviors. For their part, most of the situationistsare more concerned with describing situations and situationalbehaviors as they exist in a society than in analyzing orpredicting social change. Further, the situationists focusalmost entirely on face-to-face interaction and ignore interactions that take place through media. (1985, p. 33)

But in Meyrowitz's estimation, both perspectives have some elements incommon. Both groups reject limiting their studies only to lower-levelvariations within a system (such as specific content of a medium orparticular individual behaviors within a situation). Instead, they bothlook at general effects interacting with the larger structure of theenvironment. More importantly, as Meyrowitz sees it, both groups dealwith one similar theme: patterns of access to each other. "Thesituationists suggest how our particular actions and words are shaped byour knowledge of who has access to them, and the media theorists suggestthat new media change such patterns of access" (1985, p.33).

Meyrowitz (1985) finds Goffman's (1959) model of the situation asdrama to provide some insights regarding the effects new media have onsocial behavior. Since enacting a certain role requires appropriatesocial situations and audiences, to the extent that a new mediumrestructures social stages and reorganizes audiences it will have apronounced impact on social behavior. Some concepts of Keyrowitz'sregarding the effects of media on social situations will be describednext, followed by a discussion of implications of his views for certainaspects of family theory and research.


15/29

CHAPTER IISITUATIONS AS INFORMATION SYSTEMS

The usual definitions of situations describe behavior as takingplace in a given physical location. Such physical barriers as walls,fences, and doors direct the flow of people and shape, to a considerableextent, the number, kind, and size of face-to-face interactions. Thewalls of a room allow interaction among certain individuals andsimultaneously isolate them from others. Meyrowitz (1985) admits theimportance of place, but he speculates that place is important mainly forproviding barriers to perception. For him, it is the more inclusivenotion of a perceptual field that matters. Rather than defining asituation in terms of who is in what location, he holds that the realissue is what types of behaviors are available, I23L whatever meaiis., forothers' scrutiny.

Harking back to Goffman's (1959) classic example of waiters in arestaurant, Meyrowitz asks us to imagine how the definition of thesituation would change if by mistake an intercom is left turned on in thekitchen and some customers overhear the backstage gossip of theirwaiters. The situational definition will be affected even though nochange in the physical setting or in the physical locations of theplayers has occurred. In a similar way, he notes, print literacy permitsparents to create a backstage in the presence of their small children byspelling words to each other without being understood by the children.

11


16/29

12Two teenagers who have been banished to their telephone-equippedbedrooms can overcome the confinement their parents intended by callingeach other and creating a new, electronically mediated, backstage area.

Meyrowitz (1985) suggests that if we think of a social situation asan information system in which certain social information is accessibleonly to specific people, we could extend the study of situations beyondjust the "live" interactions that occur face-to-face in place-boundsettings. Accepting an information systems viewpoint, he notes, allowsus to see both physical settings and "mediated" settings as part of acontinuum, with both places and media producing characteristic patternsof interaction. Compared to "live" situations, media accentuate selectedchannels of information while completely omitting others.

New Media Create New SituationsAnd New Behavior

Situations utilize both performance stages and social "scripts."While scripts tend to change slowly, as a result of alterations in legalcodes, social customs, and rituals, stages can change quickly when newmedia are introduced. It follows, then, that if the settings forsituations change (by merging, dividing, or disappearing), then it will beimpossible to maintain the old definitions of the situations. Flicking amicrophone switch or turning on a television set can change a situationas much as opening a door, building a wall, or changing the cast ofperformers.

Social reality, Meyrowitz (1985) holds, exists not merely in the sumof people's behaviors but in the overall pattern of situational behaviors.When the boundary defining a situation is changed or removed, as by


17/29

13electronic media, social reality tends to change as well. When a reportermeets with the President in front of television cameras. Is thisencounter an intimate social meeting between two people or a publicperformance before millions? It is, of course, both, and therefore it isneither, becoming rather something else, aill generis, different not merelyin degree but in outright kind. The President cannot act as if he isalone with the reporter, not can he act as if he is addressing a crowd onthe steps of the White House. The new, media-influenced setting calls fornew actions and new social meanings. In this sense, Meyrowitz maintains,we have a new situation and with it a new presidency.

Middle and Deep Back RegionsSome of Meyrowitz's (1985) most provocative ideas come from his

elaboration of Goffman's (1974) model of front and back region behaviors.He asserts that electronic media tend especially to invade whattraditionally have been backstage areas, making them to some extentsubject to audience scrutiny. In general, he says, whatever parts of therehearsal become visible to the audience must be integrated into the showitself; the more rehearsal space that is lost, the more the onstageperformance comes to resemble a backstage rehearsal.

The new behavior that arises out of two merging situations (say, therestaurant with front and back regions linked by the activated intercommentioned earlier) he terms "middle region" behavior. In effect, theaudience members gain a "sidestage" view, seeing parts of the traditionalbackstage area along with parts of the traditional onstage area. A


18/29

14m i d d l e r e g i o n b e h a v i o r p a t t e r n c o n t a i n s e l e m e n t s o f b o t h t h e f o r m e ro n s t a g e a n d o f f s t a g e b e h a v i o r s b u t l a c k s t h e i r e x t r e m e s .

On the o t he r hand , when the bac ks tag e a rea i s inc rea sed in scope ,the ons tage behavior can become even more con t r ived and formal , morer i t u a l i s t i c an d c e r e m o n i a l . T he tw o new s e t s of b e h a v i o r s t h a t r e s u l tfro m t h e d i v i s i o n of s i t u a t i o n s a l lo w f o r b o t h a c o a r s e r b a c k s t a g e s t y l eand a more h ig h ly pe r fec ted on s tag e pe r forman ce . An example of i nc r eas edse p a r a t i o n m i g h t b e a t e l e p h o n e c o n v e r sa t i o n c a r r i e d on w h i l e o t h e r s a r ein the same room. In ge ne ra l , t he more d i s t a nc e the re i s between two ormore re g i on s , the more an ind iv id ua l ' s b ehavior can va ry from one reg io nt o t h e n e x t .

Media Ef fe ct s on Group I d en t i t yGroup id en t i ty i s based in l a rg e measure on sha red exper i en ce ; to

t h e e x t e n t t h a t e l e c t r o n i c m e d i a i n c r e a se o r sh r i n k t h e n u m b e r o f g r o u p swhose ex pe r i en ces we can ( a lb e i t v i ca r io us ly ) s ha re , our sen se of who i sl i k e u s s h i f t s . A t e e n a g e r ' s s e n se of g r ou p i d e n t i f i c a t i o n may m ovetow ard young peo ple p or tr ay ed on MTV vid eo s and away from p ee rs who l i v ein ad ja cen t ho use s . S ince the in f luence of a p r im ary group i s in ve rse lyre la t ed to the amount o f access an ind iv idua l has to o the r , compe t ing ,p e r s p e c t i v e s , t r a d i t i o n a l g r ou p i n f l u e n c e s may b e d r a s t i c a l l y a l t e r e d b yinfor ma t ion f rom mass media . A c l ea r sen se of "us" depends on sh a r in go ne a n o t h e r ' s b a c k s t a g e b e h a v i o r , w h i l e we t e n d t o s e e a s a l i e n , a s" them," th os e whose of fs ta ge be ha vio r i s in v is ib le to us . New media maya f f e c t a so c i e t y ' s g r o u p i d e n t i t i e s b y a l l o w i n g i n d i v i d u a l s t o e sc a p e f ro mp l a c e - d e f i n e d g r o u p s an d b y p e r m i t t i n g o u t s i d e r s t o "i n v a d e " g r o up


19/29

15territories from which they have previously been excluded. Thepsychologist-turned-mystic Richard Alpert (1974) once commented that bythe time a contemporary child is fourteen years old, she or he hasvicariously experienced, through television, literally thousands of vividlyportrayed role models and experiential situations, vastly more than anypre-television generation was ever exposed to.

Vavs in Which Sncializatlnn i^Affected by Electronic Media

Socialization involves the orderly and sequential acquisition of thespecial information of the reference group. A child is traditionallyexcluded from many of the secrets of adult life. This exclusion is notpermanent or absolute. It is understood that in due time the individualbeing socialized will be given access to the information of the group, inwhat is usually a gradual, carefully timed series of revelations, therites of passage to which anthropologists refer. One way of viewing theimpact of a new medium on socialization, according to Meyrowitz, is toexamine its capacity to restrict individuals of different ages andbackgrounds to different informational realms. The more a medium tendsto allow for very private backstage areas, the more it will support slow,sequenced stages of socialization. On the other hand, media that revealheretofore private areas where group identity is enacted will tend toerode slow, stage-determined socialization.

Influence of Media on AuthorityPrivileged access to special knowledge tends to enhance authority.

The status of superiors may be undermined when inferiors gain entry to


20/29

16special areas of information. "The more a medium tends to separate whatdifferent people in a society know, the more the medium will allow formany ranks of authority; the more it tends to merge informationalworlds, the more the medium will encourage egalitarian forms ofinteraction" (Meyrowitz, 1985, p. 64) .

Performance of a role high in authority requires careful concealmentof backstage rehearsals, practice, and humor. The need for privacy foran authority figure suggests that hierarchies are usually supported bymedia that make a clear distinction between leaders' personal foibles andtheir public actions. Hierarchies will be weakened by new media thatexpose what were once the private acts of the powerful. It was not somuch the actions of the Watergate burglars as the revelations of "off-the-record" White House tapes that led to the demise of the Nixonadministration.

Effects of Media on Polite Rehavior andTopics of ConversatinnElectronic media affect not only role performers but also audiences.

As performances are seen by larger and more diverse audiences in ourinformation environment, notions of what is proper and not proper for agiven audience group become blurred. Men and women who regularly viewthe same television programs gradually stop distinguishing between"women's subjects" and "men's subjects," between "men's language" and"women's language." A traditional classroom may contain no electronicdevices, but its students all live in a media-saturated environmentoutside the classroom. Thus a school lesson about the idealizedfunctioning of the executive branch of the government may be interrupted


21/29

17by a youngster who excitedly describes the presidential scandal reportedon television the previous night. Or a young teenaged couple might shocktheir parents with rough language and sexual openness reflecting theirrepeated viewing of television portrayals of what had once been adultbackstage regions.

The apparent 'hypocrisy' that television exposes in manyof the discrepancies between role performers' front andback region behaviors. . . may have a tendency to encourageviewers to develop a more consistent 'middle region' stylefor themselves that includes many words and actions fromtheir QMIL backstage behaviornot necessarily from theidealized and sanitized backstage behaviors projected ontelevision. (Meyrowitz, 1985, p. 175)


22/29

CHAPTER IIIMEDIA AND FAMILIES

While media theorists have not specifically concerned themselveswith the application of their work to theories about the family,exploration of the implications of their perspective for related conceptsin the literature of the family would appear to be a logical next step.The final portions of the present work will address some representative

applications of media theory in a family theory context.Implications for Role Theory

Burr el al. (1979), in their exposition of role theory, discussseveral concepts that would appear to be impacted by media theory. Ingeneral, media theory seems to suggest that electronic media, especiallytelevision, will substantially influence our thinking about roles andsocial norms (the Generalized Other which Burr e. ai. describe).

Role enactment, or the behavior of an individual in a role, requiresattention to the demands of a particular situation. To the extent thatelectronic media have altered the nature of frontstage and backstagezones and have added such complications as middle, deep back, andforefront regions, the enactment of roles by family members has becomeincreasingly complex. The trend toward dilution of authority figures'status may have important implications for the effectiveness of parentsas models for children and as leaders for their families.

18


23/29

19Ve m i g h t a l s o h y p o t h e s i z e t h a t a s m ed ia i n f i l t r a t i o n c o n t i n u e s , r o l e

s t r a i n f o r a l l f a m i l y m e mb ers w i l l t e n d t o I n c r e a s e . I t m ay b e t h a tin d i v i du a l s w i l l f ee l compe l l ed to ado pt a middle reg ion mode of be hav iorf o r a w i d e r a n d w i d e r r a n g e o f s i t u a t i o n s , a s t h e f o r m e r l y sh a r pd i s t i n c t i o n s b e tw e e n f r o n t s t a g e a n d b a c k s t a g e g ro w f u z z i e r . T he p i o n e e r sof t h i s s t y l e m ay b e t h e t e l e v i s i o n t a l k sh o w h o s t s , i n d i v i d u a l s who e x c e la t a p p e a r i n g c o m f o r t a b l e i n a w id e v a r i e t y of s i t u a t i o n s , i n l a r g emeasure by por t ray ing themse lves a s re l axed and in formal , a s i f i n thefamily den a t home, whi le casual ly acknowledging that a t the same momentthe i r image i s be ing re l ayed to mi l l ions o f homes .

Role ena c tm ent s domina ted by a middle reg ion s ty le cou ld b id fa i rt o b ec om e p r e d o m i n a n t i n t h e f u t u r e , a s i n d i v i d u a l s i n c r e a s i n g l y c o n c l u d e :"I can ' t know who is watching, so I wi l l p lay safe by ac t ing the sameeverywh ere . " I t i s i n t r i gu in g to no te th a t p re c i s e l y such a way of "be ingin the wor ld" i s the express goa l o f ce r t a in school s o f Zen Buddhi s tp r a c t i c e ( Rep s , n o d a t e ) .

Role making may be made a b i t e as i e r , a s the av a i l a b i l i t y o f n ea r lyc o u n t l e s s mo de l r o l e s o n t e l e v i s i o n p e r m i t s t h e i n d i v i d u a l t o t a i l o r m a k ea perf orm anc e from a lar ge menu of of f- th e- sh el f ro le e lem en ts . However,c e r t a i n b a c k r e g i o n r o l e s a n d b e h a v i o r s t y l e s a r e c o n sp i c u o u s b y t h e i ra l m o s t c o m p l e t e o m i s s i o n from t e l e v i s i o n . T he v i e w e r i s v i r t u a l l y n e v e rsh o w n t h e l o n g h o u r s o f d i l i g e n t p r a c t i c e r e q u i r e d f o r a r t i s t s t o p r e p a r eth e i r v i r tu os o pe r form ances . As a re su l t , young people may fee li n t i m i d a t e d b y t h e d a z z l i n g d i s p l a y s of s k i l l s w h ose l a b o r i o u s h o n i n g i sse ldom h i n t ed a t . Nor a re people work ing a t ro u t ine , complex, re p e t i t i v ejobs ( i . e . , mos t necessa ry jobs in the rea l wor ld) much in ev idence on the


24/29

20sm a l l s c r e e n . S uc h h um dru m, u n g la m o r o u s a c t i v i t i e s wo uld d o l i t t l e t ob u i l d n e t w o r k r a t i n g s , h o w e v e r v a l u a b l e t h e i r e x a m p l e m i g h t b e .

R o le t r a n s i t i o n s seem d e s t i n e d f o r c h a ng e , t o o , e s p e c i a l l y f o rc h i l d r e n , a s so c i a l i z a t i o n s t a g e s m e l t a w a y i n t h e f a c e o f w i d e sp r e a da c c e s s t o i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t t h e b a c k s t a g e w o r ld o f a d u l t s . W h ile t h i sd o u b t l e s s w i l l m ak e a d u l t s f e e l th e y a r e l o s i n g c o n t r o l of t h e i r c h i l d r e n( a s i n d e e d t h e y a r e ) , we m ay m e r el y b e r e t u r n i n g t o t h e e a r l i e r c e n t u r i e sh i s to r i a n s remind us o f, when ch i ld re n dre sse d and spoke ve ry much l ik eth e i r p a r en t s . Adolescence , bo th a s a concept and as a deve lopmenta lstage , may be on the way out .

Media e f fe c t s on group id en t i t y , we might sur m ise , w i l l i nc lud echa nge s in the Genera l i zed Othe r , We can ca l i b r a t e our beha vior to thes i t u a t io n a t hand wh i l e keep ing in mind how a wide range of po ss ib ler e f e r e n c e g r o u p s w e h a v e s e e n on t e l e v i s i o n m i g h t v ie w o u r a c t i o n s .

I m p l i c a t i o n s f o r F a m i l y S y s t e m sFami ly sys te m s theo ry may have th e most to ga in by inc or po ra t ing

t h e new p e r s p e c t i v e s on e l e c t r o n i c m e d ia . A v a r i e t y o f sy s t e m s c o n c e p t sadopted by fami ly theor i s t s such as Broder i ck and Smi th (1979) may bea f f e c t e d .

A s sh o u l d be a p p a r e n t from e a r l i e r s e c t i o n s of t h i s t h e s i s ,e l e c t r o n i c m e dia a r e d r a s t i c a l l y r e s t r u c t u r i n g t h e b o u n d a r i e s of hum ani n t e r a c t i o n s y s t e m s . A c o n t em p o r a r y m i d d l e - c l a s s A m er ic an h om e, w i t h av i d e o r e c o r d e r a n d a l a r g e c o l o r t e l e v i s i o n l o c a t e d p r o m i n e n t l y i n t h el iv ing room, sma l l e r t e l ev i s ions in the k i t chen and bedrooms, a components t e r e o s y s t e m , t h r e e t e l e p h o n e e x t e n s i o n s , f o u r r a d i o s , t w o p e r s o n a l


25/29

2 1c a s s e t t e p l a y e r s ("W alkm an" t y p e ) , a n d a l i b r a r y o f b o o k s , v i d e o t a p e s , a ndr e c o r d a l b u m s , h a s b o u n d ar y c o n d i t i o n s t h a t are p r o f o u n d l y d i f f e r e n t fro md o m e s t i c h a b i t a t s a c e n t u r y a g o . T r a d i t i o n a l b o u n d a ry m a i n t e n a n c e i ns u c h c i r c u m s t a n c e s b e c o m e s a n a l l - b u t - i m p o s s i b l e J o b .

Input f i l t e r i n g , a s a func t ion of the fami ly sys tem , has a l so becomea l a r ge and com pl ica ted t a s k . Some pa re n t s may s im ply g ive up and a l lowa lmost any form of in format ion input to pass th rough unhindered , pe rhapsr e s t r i c t i n g t h e i r c o n t r o l e f f o r t s t o a few t ok e n s i t u a t i o n s ("No R - r a t e dmov ies when Grandma comes to spe nd th e even ing ") . Or the y may giv e upa l l c e n so r i n g e f f o r t s , f o c u s i n g i n s t e a d on c o n t r o l o f i n p u t s o f m a t t e r :"You can watch T wiste d S is te r vid eos on MTV a l l you want , but keep d rug sout of my house."

R e q u i s i t e v a r i e t y , w hic h s y s t e m s t h e o r i s t s b e l i e v e a l l o w s l i v i n gsy s t e m s t o r e sp o n d f l e x i b l y t o c h a n g i n g c o n d i t i o n s , i s q u i t e l a r g e a n dr a p i d l y g e t t i n g e v e n l a r g e r . On t h e o t h e r h a nd , t h i s v a r i a b l e may f o ll owso me c u r v i l i n e a r r e l a t i o n s h i p t o s u r v i v a l a d a p t i v e n e s s , i n w hic h c a s efa m il i es may need to watch out for breakdown due to over lo ad of v ar ie ty .

The memory subsys tem d i scu sse d by Mi l l e r (1978) i s be ing s t r ik in g lyt r a n s f o r m e d . P a r e n t s ' r o l e s a s I n t e r p r e t e r s of t h e f a m i l y ' s p a s t w i l li n c r e a s i n g l y b e c h a l l e n g e d b y a c c u r a t e e l e c t r o n i c r e c o r d s of mo re a n dm o re f a c e t s of f a m i l y l i f e . Ba b y 's f i r s t w o rd s (i n d ee d , t h e b i r t h i t s e l f ) .G r a n d p a ' s s a l t y l a n g u a g e , a n d t h e d i s a s t e r o u s v a c a t i o n w i l l b e d o c u m e n t e dvi v i d l y on re l a t i v e l y endur ing memory media .


26/29

22Concluding Remarks

The e f fe c t s o f media a r e su b t l e bu t im po r ta n t , j u s t th e way a two -d e g r e e r i s e i n t h e mean t e m p e r a t u r e o f t h e e a r t h ' s a t m o sp h e r e i sim po r ta n t . Much work rem ains to be done in t e rm s of e l a bo ra t in g ands y s t e m a t i z i n g t h e t h e o r e t i c a l fr am e wo rk w h ic h w i l l e v e n t u a l l y i n c o r p o r a t et h e e m e r g i n g p e r sp e c t i v e s . M o r eo v er , l i t t l e w ork h a s be en u n d e r t a k e n onmaking basel ine measurements of the media programming mix whichc o n s t i t u t e s t h e v e r y s t u f f o f c o n t e m p o r a r y c o g n i t i v e e c o l o g y . W i th o utsu c h a d a t a b a se a s a p o i n t o f d e p a r t u r e , f u t u r e r e se a r c h e r s w i l l h a v e n oaccura te way to de te rmine dr i f t and evolu t ion wi th in the rea lm ofm e d i a t e d e v e n t s .

A new s t ag e of theo ry and an a l ys i s re ga rd ing media e f f ec t s onf a m i l y l i f e se e m s t o l i e Ju s t a h e a d . P e r h a p s t h e g r e a t e s t c h a l l e n g e w i l ll i e i n o p e r a t i o n a l i z i n g m e asu re m e nt of t h e new c o n s t r u c t s , a n e c e s sa r ytask i f a media-augmented body of family theory is ever to becomea n y t h i n g o t h e r t h a n Ju s t a n o t h e r n i c e - so u n d i n g b u t u n t e s t a b l e ,u n f a l s i f i a b l e s e t of a b s t r a c t th e o r e t i c a l c o n c e p t s .


27/29

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alpert, R. unpublished speech delivered at University ofTexas at Austin, March, 1974.Barker, R. Ecological Psychology: Concepts and Methods fon

Studying the. Environment oi Himan. Behavior. Stanford,California: Stanford University Press, 1968.Broderick, C. & Smith, J. The General Systems Approach to

the Family. In Burr, W. R., Hill, R,, Nye, F, I., &Reiss, I. L. (Eds.), Contemporary Theories AtQiil the.Eamil^L, Yol. Z- New York: Free Press, 1979,

Burr, W. R., Leigh, G. K., Day, R. D., & Constantine, J.Symbolic Interaction and the Family. In Burr, W. R.,Hill, R., Nye, F. I., & Reiss, I. L. (Eds.),Contemporary Theories Al^OUl the. amil^> )IsiL. Z> NewYork: Free Press, 1979.

Executive Summary: Ihe Audience Eales. Television.Cambridge, Massachusetts: Television AudienceAssessment, 1983.

Goethals, G. T. Ihfi TL Eitual: KoTsMp. at. the. n d e o Altar.Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 1981.Goffman, E, The. Presentation of Sell in. Everyday Lile.

New York: Anchor, 1959,Goffman, E, Erame. Analysis: An. Essay: OH t M Drganization

Q 1 Fyperlence. New York: Harper & Row, 1974.Gumpert, G. Talking. Tnmbstones &. Qtheji lalea of the. MediaAge.. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987,Innis, H. A, Ih Eias. oi GniTiTiiunlcatlon. Reprint of 1951

edition with new introduction by McLuhan, M, Toronto,Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1964,Kaplan, E, A. EoclOng. ArQund Iha Qloclt: Music Television,

Pn^tF^^p^^^s^' i Gnnsumer Culture. New York: MethuenPress, 1987,

Mander, J. Eflur A E e 't s fot tlie Elimination olTplf>vlsion, New York: William Morrow & Company, 1978,

23


28/29

24McLuhan, M. Understanding Media: I h e Extensions o i Man.New York: M cGra w-H ill, 196 4,M eyro witz , J. ]IQ Sensfi. o l ElaC. New York: Oxfo rdU n i v e r s i t y P r e s s , 1 9 8 5 .M il le r , J . Lining. Sy ste m s. New York: McGraw-Hill , 1978.N iels en , A, C. f ilelsen. E ep o i i on. Te lev isi on . No rthbro ok,I l l in o i s : A. C . N ie l se n Company, 1977 .Postman , N, I h e Dis app eara nce o i Chi ldho od. New York:D e l a c o r t e P r e s s , 1 9 8 2 ,Postman, N . Amusing Ourselves t o Death: EuMiii Discoursein. t h a Aga o i ShoWL B u si n es s. New York: Vik ing Pengu inI n c . , 1 9 8 5 .Reps, P. (Ed.). Zen. Elest, Zen. Eones.: A Collection Q1 Zenan d Pre-Zen W ri t in gs . Garden Ci ty, New York:Doubleday Anchor , no date .Roszak, T. Ihe Cull o l Information: I h e Folklore ofCo m pu ters a n d thfi. InifiL A rt of Th in kin g. New York:Pantheon Books/Random House, 1986.Thomas, W. I. & Thomas, D. S. I h e Ch ild I n Am erica:Be hav ior Prob lem s an d Pro gra m s. New York: Alfred

Knopf, 1 9 2 8 .


29/29

P E R M I S S I O N T O C O P Y

I n p r e s e n t i n g t h i s t h e s i s i n p a r t i a l f u l f il l m e nt o f t her e q u i r e m e n t s f or a m a s t e r 's d e g r e e a t T e x a s T e c h U n i v e r s i t y , I a g r e et h a t t h e L i b r a r y a n d my m ajo r d e p a r t m e n t s h a l l m ake i t f r e e l y a v a i l-a b l e f o r r e s e a r c h p u r p o s e s . P e r m i s s i o n t o c o py t h i s t h e s is f o rs c h o l a r l y p u r p o s e s m a y b e g r a n te d b y t h e D i r e c to r o f t h e Li b r a r y o rm y m ajo r p r o f e s s o r . It is u n d e r s t o o d t h at a ny c o p y i n g o r p u b l i c a t i o no f t h i s t h e s i s f o r f i n a n c i a l g a i n s h a l l n ot b e a l l owe d w i t ho u t m yf u r t h e r w r i t t e n p e r m i s s i o n a n d t h at a n y u s e r m a y be l i a b l e f o r c o p y-r i g h t i n f r i n g e m e n t .

D i s a g r e e (P e r m i s s i o n n o t g r a n t e d) A g r e e (P e r m i s s io n g r a n t e d)

^y^^7L^

Effects of Television Viewing on Family Functioning

Documents

Transcript of Effects of Television Viewing on Family Functioning