Geographical Proximity, Cultural Imperialism, and the Cultivation Effect

Abstract

This work investigates the influence of geographical proximity on the cultivation effect in the context of cultural imperialism. A content analysis of prime-time programming (n=63 hours) is used to compose questions about the prevalence of different occupations in the USA and Israel. A sample of 655 students answered these questions. Viewing of American programming was significantly correlated with a tendency to hold a biased estimation of the prevalence of certain occupations in America in a manner that resembles the world of TV content. Viewing of Israeli programs had no such impact on the estimation of occupation prevalence in Israel. General viewing had no influence on the estimations made about any of the countries.

Keywords:

• Cultivation
• Cultural Imperialism
• International Communication
• Geographical Proximity

Acknowledgements

The first author thanks Jim Shanahan (Cornell University) for providing helpful comments on the manuscript and is indebted to Communication Monographs editor, Alan Sillars, and two anonymous reviewers for the good advice.

Notes

1. The coding of the TV characters noted 12.7% students, 11% doctors, 7.8% managers, 7% politicians, 6.9% unemployed and homemakers, 4.8% policemen, 4.5% journalists and entertainers, 4% big businessmen, 3.5% lawyers, 3.5% small business owners, 3% secretaries and clerks, 2.5% computer science and information technology 2%, teachers, 2%, paralegal assistants and paramedics, 2% accountants and bookkeepers, 2% providers of religious services, 2% artists, 1.5% economists, 1.5% social workers, 1.5% soldiers, 1.5% salesmen, 1% technicians, 1% factory workers, 1% professional athletes, 0.8% architects, and 0.5% scientists. The occupation of 8.5% of the characters could not be determined from the text. There were no considerable differences in vocation distribution between major characters (mentioned in the shows’ opening credits) and minor characters.

2. We measured the share of American programs in the respondents’ TV diet and not the amount of time spent on viewing these shows in accordance with RH2, which predicted that the tendency to watch American programs (and not the time devoted to viewing them) would affect estimates of occurrences prevalence in America. Another reason not to include the time devoted to viewing American programs in the model is to avoid multicollinearity, as general viewing and viewing of American programming are interrelated by definition (since viewing of American programs is the multiplicative of general viewing by the share of American programs).

3. In our regression model the following predictors were nominal-categorical: sex (1-female, 0-male); ethnicity (1-Jew, 0-Arab); place of residence (1-urban, 0-rural); and American citizenship (1-having, 0-not having). The ordinal-categorical variables were a four-point religiosity scale stretching from very religious (1) to not religious at all (4) and a three-point scale denoting the share of American programming (1-less than one-third; 2-between one-third and two-thirds; 3-more than two-thirds). Reality estimates were coded as 1 (TV answer) or 0 (real-world answer). The rest of the variables were interval.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amir Hetsroni

Amir Hetsroni (PhD, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), who is the major author, is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Communication at Yezreel Valley College, Israel

Hila Elphariach

Hila Elphariach (BA, Yazreel Valley College)

Rinat Kapuza

Rinat Kapuza (BA, Yazreel Valley College)

Betty Tsfoni

Betty Tsfoni (BA, Yazreel Valley College) were undergraduate students while working on this study