Television News and Political Socialization

Elementary school children frequently watch child-oriented newssegments on Saturday morning television, and occasionally viewnetwork newscasts. News viewing is mildly associated with bothpolitical knowledge and public affairs interest for older children,but younger viewers learn little. Parent-child discussion ofnews is also related to newscast exposure.     

Opinion Leadership and Television News Uses

Current Research: This section of POQ is reserved for brief reports of researchin progress, discussions of unsolved problems, methodologicalstudies, and public opinion data not extensively analyzed orinterpreted. Succinct case histories are welcomed, as well ashypotheses and insights that may be useful to other studentsof public opinion. Usually, material in this section is shorter,more informal, and more tentative than in preceding pages     

Viewer Characteristics and Agenda Setting by Television News

Most previous studies of agenda setting by television news havefailed to consider factors that might strengthen or weaken agenda-settingeffects. Drawing on the findings of news recall and comprehensionresearch, this investigation of survey data gathered from 1204national news viewers identifies several characteristics ofviewers and viewing traits that increase the agenda-settinginfluence of news programs. The analysis suggests that effectsare greater when viewers have prior awareness of news topicsthrough print media exposure or have some college education.Watching news programs in color and attentively also contributesto increases in agenda setting.     

Television Viewing and the Perception of Affluence*

Paralleling research on the effects of television on cognitions regarding violence, this study examines the effects of television on perceptions of the extent of affluence in the United States. Television's frequent portrayal of America as a highly affluent society suggests that perceptions of affluence are positively related both to amount of television viewing and to perceived veracity of television, and that the effects of television viewing are strongest among persons who attribute the greatest veracity to television's depiction of American life. An analysis of survey data provides little support for these hvpotheses. Although moderately strong positive relationships exist between affluence perceptions and both amount of television viewing and perceived veracity of television, these zero-order relationships are spurious associations accounted for by class-related variables, especially education.     

Television and Political Alienation: Does Television News Induce Political Cynicism and Inefficacy in Japan?

Abstract: In many democratic societies, including Japan, political alienation such as political cynicism or inefficacy is widespread among the general public. Some researchers argue that along with various other factors embedded in political systems, the mass media, particularly television, plays a crucial role in promoting or intensifying political alienation. Focusing on the influence of the media, this study examines whether television news induces political cynicism and inefficacy in Japan. Previous research has indicated that public and commercial broadcasts may have different impacts on the political attitude of the audience. Thus, this study predicts that the relationship between television news exposure and political alienation would be stronger among those who exclusively watch commercial news programs. The results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicate that among non-Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) news viewers, those who view television news more frequently are more likely to feel politically inefficacious, and that those who rely exclusively on television for political information are more likely to be politically cynical. However, negative influences associated with television reliance or television news viewing are not observed among the NHK news viewers, although positive influences are also not observed. Thus, according to the results, the "videomalaise" effect would be limited to certain viewers. This article discusses the implications of the findings and also suggests that more exclusive psychological explanations be examined for the videomalaise effect.     

Television News, Real-World Cues, and Changes in the Public Agenda

This paper examines the interrelationships between real-worldcues, television news coverage, and public concern for the issuesof energy, inflation, and unemployment. On the basis of longitudinaldata, the authors show that media agenda setting is indeed unidirectional—televisionnews influences public concern and not vice versa. Lead storiesare significantly more powerful than ordinary stories in shapingthe public's agenda. Prevailing conditions and events affectpublic opinion both directly and indirectly, by determiningthe degree of news coverage accorded issues.     

Of Time,Work, and Family

Qualitative Sociology -     

Some Determinants of Work Alienation*

This study represents an attempt to examine the nature and sources of self-estrangement in work. The concept is defined using a discrepancy approach. Questionnaire data were collected from 1,313 employees representing seven occupational groups. The results suggest that individual work values interact with perceptions of the work situation to produce different levels of self-estrangement within each occupational group. Furthermore, multiple regression analysis indicates that job conditions are significantly more important than background factors for explaining feelings of self-estrangement. In particular, lack of control over task activities (powerlessness) and lack of meaningful work (meaninglessness) are found to be the most powerful predictors across all occupational groups. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Priming Implicit Racism in Television News: Visual and Verbal Limitations on Diversity

We highlight an understudied aspect of racism in television news, implicit racial cues found in the contradictions between visual and verbal messages. We compare three television news broadcasts from the first week after Hurricane Katrina to reexamine race and representation during the disaster. Drawing together insights from interdisciplinary studies of cognition and sociological theories of race and racism, we examine how different combinations of the race of reporters and news sources relate to the priming of implicit racism. We find racial cues that are consistent with stereotypes and myths about African Americans—even in broadcasts featuring black reporters—but which appear only in the context of color‐blind verbal narration. We conclude by drawing attention to the unexpected and seemingly unintended reproduction of racial ideology.     

Time,Rank, and Social Control*

Members of organizations treat time as something and scarce that may be possessed and traded and that is repeatedly the object of contracts. Observations in hospital Intensive Care Units show both formal patterns of greater time advantage for those of high rank and informal patterns of renegotiation and manipulation of time. Organizations can examine informal time use by members and select and promote those who willingly put in time for the organization. Putting in extra time for others can be used as an indicator of attitudinal conformity, which helps the organization assure behavioral compliance by the higher ranked, who are typically in less observable positions.     

Young Mothers' Time Spent at Work and Time Spent Caring for Children

The association between the time a mother spends at work and in different child care activities is investigated, using data from the 1981 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). The mothers who worked on the index day spent almost one hour less time in physical care, one-half hour less time in interactive care, and over two hours less time in passive supervision of their children. The effects of a set of predictors on time use at work, time use in physical care, interactive care, and passive supervision of children were estimated using a covariance structure model. When the effects of these predictors are controlled, the number of hours at work predicts: (a) a small reduction in time spent in interactive care, and (b) larger reductions in time spent in physical care and passive supervision.     

Time Warped: The Flexibilization and Maximization of Flight Attendant Working Time*

Le temps de travail a été le sujet de débats et de luttes tout au long de l'histoire du capitalisme industriel, et le contexte actuel de transformation économique et sociale rapide a sur lui de profondes répercussions. Au moyen d'une étude de cas des nouvelles réalités de temps de travail des agentes et agents de bord d'Air Canada, cet article aide à améliorer notre compréhension des répercussions de ces mutations sur les travailleuses et travailleurs dans notre économie de services en pleine croissance. Je veux montrer que le régime de temps de travail de l'aviation commerciale de l'époque de la mondialisation-déréglementation a renforcé la réification de la force de travail des agentes et agents de bord.
Working time has been the subject of debates and struggles throughout the history of industrial capitalism, and the current context of rapid economic and social transformation is having profound repercussions on it. Through a case study of the new working-time realities of flight attendants at Air Canada, this article helps fill the gap in our understanding of the impact of changing temporalities on workers in the ever-expanding service economy. I demonstrate that the globalization/ deregulation-era airline-industry working-time regime has deepened the commodity status of flight attendant labour power.