Review
Media, Sex, Violence, and Drugs in the Global Village shows the use of these powerful themes in changing the habits of audiences in many different contexts. These new habits reflect one of the driving forces of media--globalization--particularly on television and the Internet. The book provides a useful set of case studies on countries from Turkey to Korea and South Africa to Canada, along with some cross-national studies. Students learn not only about a variety of national mediascapes but also a variety of methodological approaches--from the quantitative to the qualitative, from media effects to political economy. . . . Any student wishing to understand the role of programming (and racy or 'taboo' programming in particular) in transforming audience habits and values will find this book useful. (Waddick Doyle )
This is a unique and welcome addition to debates about the global dominance of American culture in the twenty-first century.
Media, Sex, Violence, and Drugs in the Global Village brings together insights from American media and cultural critics and observations on the global influence of American culture from commentators living outside the United States. An important contribution to the analysis of globalization, it will be essential reading for students and academics in communication, media, and cultural studies. (Cynthia Carter )
This book is both original and significant in that it attempts to grab a worldview of media problems that have hitherto been most extensively studied in the United States alone. (Richard Maxwell )
Book Description
"Prominent media scholars such as Herbert Schiller have long noted the implications of Western especially American cultural influence on peoples of the developing Third World. Media, Sex, Violence, and Drugs in the Global Village provides a multicultural analysis of the impact of globalized Western media, including movies, syndicated radio programs, the Internet, and satellite and cable television programs. Looking specifically at themes of sex, violence, and drugs, an international cast of media scholars offers case studies of countries grappling with the influences of both Western cultural imports and similar local productions. For example, the authors examine the extent to which Hollywood's methods are copied by producers outside the United States and whether or not these result in more sex-, violence-, or drug-oriented themes in indigenous productions. The book further proposes a framework for understanding the political, social, and economic problems that face media policy makers in an age of globalization."
