Summer 2003
The Vast Influence of TV on American Culture in the 20th Century
By Mark Bryant
As Americans reached unprecedented prosperity by the twentieth century’s midpoint, people found more and more time for leisure activities and recreation than ever before. Consequently, the emphasis placed on entertainment increased exponentially. Leading the way was television, which had the greatest influence on American culture during the second half of the century.
Politically, television has been a deciding factor in the fates of candidates for public office since the Kennedy-Nixon debate in 1960.
In terms of societal matters, however, television has placed its’ indelible stamp on American culture in three distinct categories- behavior, lifestyle, and spending patterns.
BEHAVIOR OF VIEWERS
Television is generally regarded as particularly influential on behavior patterns and attitudes, especially children.
By the decade of the 1970’s, census data indicated that 96% of American homes had one or more television sets. The average home set was on more than six hours a day. Most adults and children reported watching at least two hours daily. For most people of all ages, viewing was a daily practice (Rubinstein, 1972).
Senator Thomas J. Dodd, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, was part of a task force in June 1961. He viewed excerpts of scenes of violence and sex with fellow committee members. The findings were that in an average week, 50% of prime time was devoted programs containing violence and sex. There are 130 million exposures to children 12 and under. Many of these children are saturated by these programs before they can read or write (Skornia, 1965).
The slogans, catchwords, phrases, mottoes and other lessons that children learn are not educational but commercial. The lessons and values which education offers then become compromised or diminished. Television places a high premium on emotional attachment. Children are not so much spectators of a film as they are co-actors. They live it (Skornia, 1965). A study done by Elizabeth Wurth in 1953 concluded that chld of 5 or 6 years of age is not sufficiently mature enough to be exposed to films without detriment to his personality development.
Studies repeatedly showed that a given program would harm one person but yet cause no apparent harm to another. Industry spokesmen tended to exploit these contradictions by defining and operating media using a one-size-fits-all generalization approach. The average then became the normal. According to Skornia, “Human beings cannot be averaged as if they were numbers. A small group of children done harm may will be more important an a thousand time as many children who are not done harm. The quantity criterion cited by industry does not holdup with human beings are at stake…Instances of people harmed by television will not be found in averages or statistics, but in hospitals and prisons. They are specific tragedies” (145).
Psychiatrists have lone concluded that matters that people do not take seriously affect them the most. Skornia concurs: “Courts have repeatedly declared that the power of motion pictures as organs of public opinion are not lessened by the fact that they are designed primarily to entertain” (148).
Television has the attraction because it contains moving images. Substantial evidence indicates that people will hypnotically continue watching. However, to say that continued viewing is an endorsement of whatever is being offered is to confuse the form with its’ content (Skornia, 1965).
In short, television is credited with information about the appropriate structure of society and thus the appropriate motives for behavior (Berger, 1987).
Skornia went one step further to warn that “farfetched as it may seem, historians of the future may conclude that never before was there a period during which control of the thinking of a nation was exercised in a more totalitarian manner, or by a smaller group, than it is now by television and radio” (145).
LIFESTYLE OF VIEWERS
Television fast became the cutting edge of American lifestyles. It was symbolic of seemingly newfound American affluence which earlier generations had been deprived of thanks to the Great Depression and World War II. Indeed, it represented a reward for years of forbearances (McDonald, 1990).
Television had a hand in making sports, music, goods and services, and a host of activities popular because of slick advertising and marketing that television aggressively pursued.
The Super Bowl has been declared an unofficial national holiday in light of not only the hype surrounding the game, but in terms of the commercialism and advertising around it. People who have a minimal interest in sports and therefore indifferent about the outcome of the game will tune in, because they want to see the commercials. The emphasis on companies soliciting items to be aired during this event has increased exponentially since the game’s inception in 1967.
Because television does not usually involve exclusive or focused attention except during stretches of the viewer’s choice, people can perform a wide range of activities while the set is on (Rubinstein, 1972). The viewer helps to determine a large part of what networks will consider offering to the public through the concept of ratings. Ratings are based on the premise that stations should broadcast ‘What The Public Wants’ (Skornia, 1965).
The characters depicted on the screen and in television shows are another matter. The fast life indicates a desire for such a life (Charters, 1934). Television places celebrities on a pedestal, treating them as society’s most valued members. It is well documented that on the basis of salary and prestige, show business people and sports figures are the most important people in the
These people are paid, imitated, adored and idolized on a grander scale than any profession in the country. They earn more wealth than scientists, artists, journalists, composers, teachers, doctors and government employees (Skornia, 1965). Skornia adds about stars: “If a character wishes to be interesting, he or she must have a past. Such fallen heroes can understand people in ways that others cannot” (154).
SPENDING PATTERNS OF VIEWERS
By noting which products the stars use, the public knows what products are most desirable and effective. The kinds of values these stars represent, however, are open to some discussion. According to Skornia: “Heroes, especially athletes, used to be associated and identified with wholesome food, regular hours, exercise and self discipline. Recently heroes are shown associated with soft drinks, shaving materials, beer, tobacco, automobiles and luxuries” (154). That could very well sum up today’s athlete/icon with the necessary insertion of rap videos, jewelry and drugs.
Buying and being a consumer of goods is the American way, and television has an inimitable way of attracting someone to spend. The spender knows he has a duty to free enterprise-capitalism-to spend, rather than save (Skornia, 1965). By strict conformity, viewers are urged to do as the person on the screen does in terms of choosing a name brand. Research proves that this is effective, and that people will do as they are shown (Skornia, 1965). Therefore, television has us linked to a capitalist ethic, and television has operated as a commercial billboard (McDonald, 1990).
Particularly susceptible to the pitfalls of consumer saturation are the middle and upper-class families, who have a higher level of income and therefore a larger pool of options for spending. According to psychologist Dan Kiley: “Peddlers blitz these families with an endless variety of one message: If you buy this, you will belong” (231).
Parents then are faced with the task having to explain that “a certain cereal will not transform them into great athletes as the highly paid announcer says, nor will the drug mentioned really cure hemorrhoids, or cancer, or arthritis. The announcer is really lying. Nor will certain cosmetics or cars guarantee success in romance as is implied (Skornia, p. 168).
CONCLUSION
Television was the most important social and cultural force in the Unite Sates in the mid to late twentieth century. Since it emerged in the late 1940’s as a nationally available medium of mass entertainment and information, it influenced millions of lives and shaped not only American politics, but also the economic and social matters of this society.
Works Cited
Kiley, Dan (1983. The Peter Pan Syndrome: me who have never grown up. Dodd, Mead &Company,
Skornia, Harry J (1965). Television and society: an inquest and agenda for improvement.
Rubinstein, Eli, et al. (1972). Television and growing up: the impact of televised violence. Report to the Surgeon General,
McDonald, J. Fred (1990). One nation under television, the rise and decline of network TV. Pantheon Books,
Berger, Arthur Asa (1987). Television in society. Transaction Books,
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