We as humans, when we think of television, the first thing that flashes into our minds is the different programs we watch frequently or something that has a positive or a negative impact on us. For instance, whenever I see the word ‘racial’ all that I can think of are the racial attacks on Indians in Australia. To come to think of it, we have actually decided that the attacks are purely of racial nature alone after the number of times the word RACIAL ATTACKS has been flashed on our television screens. Therefore, I have decided to look at the impact of television on the society and how it has conditioned us to think the way it wants us to. The theory is based on Marx’s concept of false consciousness and other sociological concepts. The theory is named as “TV AND HUMAN BEHAVIOUR”.
The reason for this title is that, we as humans behave and react according to the events demonstrated on TV, either according to it or completely against it. Some of us might also be apathetic towards a particular situation.
Let us look at a few instances:
- Attacks in Australia and other European countries have been on a high for almost four years now. However, none of the cases were reported in India as much as the recent Australian attacks have. There is sudden drop in the number of students who previously decided to go abroad to study, especially to Australia. There is a sudden need for the Government to ensure the security of Indians students abroad. This particular issue was not looked into before. Also, due to the increase in the number of attacks that took place, there was an aversion towards Australians or people who were apathetic towards this depressing situation of Indians.
- There are two leading parties in Tamil Nadu: DMK and AIADMK. Both these parties have TV Channels: Kalaignar and Jaya TV respectively. The one amusing thing that a Chennaite notices at 7.30 pm everyday is that how these news channels put each other down constantly. They give information that is at times not authentic and try to bring down the rival party’s situation. Constant portrayal of bad images by both parties has actually made most residents of Tamil Nadu apathetic political participants. This again, is an impact on humans that instantly causes them to change their behavior. The people lose interest in following up with the political scenario in Tamil Nadu.
Keeping these instances as my base and as live proof of how TV actually has an instant impact on human behavior, I shall now explain this theory sociologically.
Sociological studies of the impact of television on human beings have been phenomenal. According to a research, a substantial amount of the population does not read the newspapers. Therefore, the only source of information about what goes on in the world is TV. News never gives its audience a description of what has actually happened. The news is a complex structure of a program that actually regularly influences what it is about. My Australian racial attacks instance fits into this explanation. No one knows whether the attacks have been racial in nature. It is solely the TV that has repeatedly told us that these attacks are racial in nature.
Soap operas are like TV; they are continuous. Individual stories may come to an end, many characters may come and go, but the sitcom itself does not end till it is taken off the air completely. Tension is usually created among the audience, an episode may end abruptly. This causes the viewers to constantly think of it till the suspense is broken. These threads of tension created are called ‘cliffhangers’. Soap operas usually presume history, something that every viewer is aware of – he/she becomes familiar with the characters, their lives and their personalities.
Sociologists analyze why soaps are not only popular in the USA and Britain but also in Asia, China and Africa. The first reason is that some of them think that it is a means of escapism, particularly where women find their own lives dull and oppressing go in search of some “masala”. However, I personally disagree with this analysis. As a sociology graduate and a feminist to an extent, most women no longer have dull and oppressing lives. They are sensible enough not to blindly watch something that subconsciously affects the way they live their lives.
However, the next analysis is interesting. Some sociologists feel that soaps address the universal properties of personal and emotional life. They explore real life situations that create dilemmas for us and present them to us in a more creative way. Therefore, we tend to connect to these soap operas and become regular viewers. This indirectly affects us subconsciously and we conclude the fact that a situation similar to ours will have the same happy and glorifying ending that the episode of a sitcom has. This is called ‘false consciousness’ – belief in unrealistic things, things that actually do not exist in our lives. This concept was put forth by Karl Marx.
The study of media is related to impact of ideology in society. Ideology refers to the influence of ideas on people’s beliefs and actions. This term was coined by Destutt de Tracy in the 1700s. This word actually means – science of ideas. This was a neutral view of ideology. The idea of ideology, later in the years turned out to be much more complex. Marx called ideology as false consciousness. According to him, there are powerful groups that exist in society and they dominate and decide on what can be circulated in the society so as to justify their positions in the society. This way, television is the dominant force here. This was the critical view of ideology.
This is my perception of how television impacts humans and how we adapt and change according to what we watch and how we perceive it to be. We as humans have the ability to connect situations around us to our own lives. Thus, consciously, subconsciously or unconsciously we react to things shown to us emotionally at some level.
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