International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

In the 1940s, →  Paul F. Lazarsfeld defined international communication as a study of the “processes by which various cultures influence each other” ( Lazarsfeld 1976 , 485). The term culture has been defined in a variety of ways over the years. An all-encompassing definition of culture was given by Kroeber: culture “is a way of habitual acting, feeling and thinking channeled by a society out of an infinite number and variety of potential ways of living” ( Kroeber 1952 , 136; →  Culture: Definitions and Concepts ). Intercultural media effects denotes the idea of change or modification to the culture of individuals living in a given society induced as a result of their exposure to media content produced in another society. Since →  Television is still the most popular and prevalent form of entertainment media around the world, this entry will be confined in scope to the cross-cultural impact of entertainment television (→  Television: Social History ; Entertainment, Effects of ). The question here is: Can the culture of individuals in a given society be changed or modified as a result of their exposure to entertainment television programs produced in another society (→  Intercultural and Intergroup Communication )? The various perspectives about this topic that have emerged during the last 40 years can be categorized according to their assumed strength of impact: strong impact ... log in or subscribe to read full text