Page 70 - Media Effects Advances in Theory and Research

3. GROWING UP WITH TELEVISION 59

In the Netherlands, Bouwman (1984) found weak associations between
the amount of viewing and perceptions of violence, victimization, and
mistrust. But the findings reveal the importance of cultural context in
comparative cultivation research. Content analyses showed a good deal
of similarity between U.S. and Dutch television (Bouwman & Signorielli,
1985; Bouwman & Stappers, 1984), and much programming was
imported from the United States. Yet, it was found that both light and
heavy viewers see about equal amounts of fictional entertainment, but
heavy viewers see more “informational” programs, a situation quite dif-
ferent from that in the United States (see also Bouwman, 1987; Stappers,
1984).
Cultivation analyses about conceptions of violence, sex roles, political
orientations, “traditional” values, social stereotypes, and other topics
have been conducted in numerous other countries, including Sweden
(Hedinsson & Windahl, 1984; Reimer & Rosengren, 1990), Argentina
(Morgan & Shanahan, 1995), the Philippines (Tan, Tan, & Tan, 1987), Tai-
wan and Mexico (Tan, Li, & Simpson, 1986), Japan (Saito, 1991), and Thai-
land (Tan & Suarchavarat, 1988). These studies show the complex ways in
which the viewing of local or imported programming can interact with
distinct cultural contexts. For example, in Korea, Kang and Morgan (1988)
found that exposure to U.S. television was associated with more “liberal”
perspectives about gender roles and family values among females. At the
same time, more viewing of U.S. television among Korean male students
correlated with greater hostility toward the U.S. and protectiveness
toward Korean culture, suggesting a “backlash” of nationalism among the
more politicized college students.
Most of these studies examined single countries. Nevertheless, other
studies have explored the comparative aspects of cultivation analysis.
Morgan and Shanahan (1992) analyzed adolescents in Taiwan and
Argentina. In Argentina, where television is supported by commercials
and features many U.S. programs, heavy viewing cultivates traditional
gender roles and authoritarianism. In Taiwan, where media are more state
controlled, with fewer U.S. imports, and where overall viewing is much
lighter, cultivation was much less apparent. Also, Morgan (1990) com-
pared the cultivation of sex-role stereotypes in five different countries.
A study of U.S. and (what was then) Soviet television conducted in 1989
and 1990 found that television played a different role in the two countries.
In the United States, but not in the former Soviet Union, television was
associated with heightened anxieties about neighborhood safety, perhaps
as a result of the much lower frequency of violence on Soviet television. In
both countries, but especially in the former Soviet Union, the more people
watched television the more likely they were to say that housework is pri-
marily the responsibility of the woman. General satisfaction with life was