Islam 1

Tasnuva Islam

ID# 021-345-030

Mr. Carl Bloom

English 105, Section 6

16 August 2004

Effect of Foreign TV Channels on young people to change their view towards

marriage/affair

INTRODUCTION

Scholars have never been able to agree on a straightforward definition of

culture. In the 1870s the anthropologist Edward Tylor defined culture as that

complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals. Law, custom and other

capabilities acquired by man as a member of society. (Charles 89) Since then,

hundreds of other definitions have been developed. Another refined definition of

culture was given by Geert Hofstede. He defined culture as the collective

programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from

another. (Charles 89) However, one of the most important characters of culture is, it

is not constant: it evolves over time. There are many reasons behind the changes of

culture. Some elements lead to cultural changes fast and some do so slowly. Media

nowadays is considered as a window for learning and is also considered to be our

main window to the world. The programs of satellite channels make the young

generation of our country more exposed to cultures that are totally different in values

and norms from the one they have most likely grown up in. As a result, now-a-days

most young people dont posses the same ideas about life style, culture, family value

and marriage that their parents did. Most people think marriage as a relation that

makes the commitment to each other stronger and it definitely makes two people
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committed to being together for the rest of life. In our country, most parents still hold

conservative thoughts about their childrens marriages. In most families, affairs or

choosing life-partner him/herself is strictly prohibited. Parents think it their special

duty to find a suitable partner for their child; but does the child think so? As they are

now better conversant about other cultures through magazines, TV shows and of

course, the internet, their thoughts are getting reconstructed. A wide range of

experience of different cultures creates for a broader outlook and while they go about

exploring a different culture through the media, their own culture goes largely

ignored. The trial thesis of my research paper is foreign TV channel programs are

gradually changing (both positively and negatively) the idea of marriage/affair of

young people.

BACKGROUND

I often wonder, if the pioneers of television could see how TV is used today

what they would think? Satellite, which is considered to be the most efficient

innovation of science and scientists, has made the world very small to us and abridged

the distance between countries and nations. If we turn the TV on, it turns us up within

a minute and makes us look at the colorful screen, spell bound. Everyday it updates us

with the news of sports, politics, movies, music and every bit of information someone

possibly needs to know. Effect of dish culture is no different in Bangladesh. Here it is

found to be the most popular medium for entertainment, education and information.

Being a third world country, both positive and negative effects of satellite channels

have been found here side by side. At present dish culture has brought an ominous

effect on our social, economical, cultural, relational and national life in Bangladesh.

Talking only about the positive aspects of cable network would be bit chauvinism.
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Todays young people are better informed about foreign norms and cultures

than their predecessors. They find themselves at the cross-roads where different

cultures meet. Cable dish is found to be popular amongst all sorts of people, specially

the young generation. After the advent of dish culture, they are getting to enjoy the

charisma of worldwide satellite channels. Soon it spread its popularity throughout the

country incredulously. When the question of cable impact comes in, we must recount

the incredible changes in Bangladesh. For example, if we look at the country now

there is a huge difference from ten years back. These are all nothing but the effect of

dish. Although there are both positive and negative effects, in my research paper I will

not discuss specifically one thing but how the ideas are changing will be my main

point to discuss. The effects on those I will draw your attention in this paper are The

change in their ideas about marriage, living together, same-sex attraction and delaying

in marriage for career consciousness.

METHODOLOGY

I collected the data for this research paper from primary sources and secondary

sources. As the paper is argumentative in nature, I had to depend on some experts

opinions as well as interviews of the general public. Therefore, the primary sources

that I have used are a personal interview with a lecturer of North-South University

and a survey with an approved questionnaire. To seek the opinion of the general

public, with a close ended questionnaire, I interviewed 20 young people of different

private universities of Dhaka city and among those 20 people, 10 were male and 10

were female. The sample population is assumed to be representative of the larger

population. The survey was conducted in Dhaka city and includes people aged 19 to

23 years. On the other hand, I personally talked with Ms. Gigi Asem (Sociology and

Anthropology lecturer of North-South University) for her valuable opinion about

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satellite dish cultures effect on young people. Besides that I collected my secondary

data from the daily newspapers, different books, periodicals, journals on cultural

phenomena and some previous works. Then the collected data was reviewed and

analyzed to prepare the report.

LIMITATIONS

Before starting my main research paper and analysis, I must mention a few

limitations of this paper. For this purpose, I interviewed with questionnaire only 20

people among whom 10 were males and 10 were females and the age group was 19 to

23. It can easily be said that the number is very small compared to the total people of

our country who enjoy the programs of foreign TV channels. Again, I only surveyed

some private universities students, the public universities students or the other

college and school going young people are not part of this survey. The other districts,

except Dhaka city, are not included in this survey as well. So the outcome may not

show us the correct situation. In addition, questions arise about the honesty or

approach of my target group during asking questions. I distributed the questionnaire

to my classmates who were more interested to chat with others at that time than filling

up my questionnaire. I provided some space for writing their comments about this

research topic to know more about their notion that I could not cover in my close-

ended questionnaire but most of them did not bother to fill that part up.

PROBLEMS FACED DURING DATA COLLECTION

I had to depend on different sources to collect persuasive data to write this

research paper as it is more argumentative. Moreover, during collection of this

different information I faced a lot of problems.

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During primary data collection

After getting approval for the questionnaire from my honorable course

instructor when I thought to start the survey, the university authorities declared to

postpone classes for a few days due to the miserable flood. As I targeted North-South

universitys students as my target group for survey, I got stuck with the main part of

the research paper. Again, I faced some problems to get an appointment with the

person I targeted to take a personal interview as she was not available all the time.

Therefore, I had to spend a lot of time to fix an appointment with her.

During secondary data collection

I collected secondary data from some published articles and journals in

some renowned national newspapers and from the internet. The main problem that I

faced during secondary data collection is that those articles and journals were not

available. I also had to spend a lot time on this purpose. I wanted to use some

references from articles that my friends referred to me, but when I asked North-South

University Librarys reference section for those dates newspapers, they were not able

to give them to me . I planned to go to the newspapers office but I came to know that

nobody is allowed to the reference room of those offices without reference of any

person who is involved with the newspaper. Again, I did not get that much

information related to my topic on the internet.

FINDINGS FROM SURVEY

In order to analyze the data collected from survey, some findings are divided into

two parts -- Graphs and data analysis. In this part I have presented the most relevant

questions that I asked people through the questionnaire. Other questions and graphs

are shown in the appendix. All the respondents are television viewers with access to

foreign satellite networks. The relevant salient findings of my survey are as follows:
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Close-ended question:

Do you think that those programs of different channels have any effect on

changing your opinion?

Data analysis - From the data in the graph above, we can see that half of the people

think that those programs on foreign TV channels dont have that much significance

on changing their opinion. That means they think that this media has a small effect at

any rate regarding this change. The second largest portion (30%) says Yes. From

this, we can say that 80% believe that there is at least a very minor effect of those

foreign programs on changing their opinion-only 15% said absolutely no effect.

What do you think about marriage?

From the survey, I got a clear idea about what young people think about marriage.

About 50% think marriage makes people bound and none of them consider it as a

backdated idea. Their idea, regarding to marriage, can be shaped as a result of

watching different family problems in different soap operas and movies. The other

half portion of the people is divided in two different answers. 25% considered
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marriage as a better idea while 25% are not sure about this. May be those soap operas

and movies make them confused to give a specific answer about it.

What do you think about living together?

Data Analysis - Here we can see that about 75% dont consider living together as a

good option. 40% think it is against our cultural norms while 35% dont believe that

premarital cohabitation (living together before marriage) can help to take a better

decision. 15% people, on the other hand, think it is a better idea while 10% are not

sure. This 10% may be affected by foreign TV channels and their ideas are changing

so they hesitated to give any specific comment.

Do you think that in marriage people are more obligated or have more

responsibilities than in living together?

In response to my 8th question, about 80% people agreed upon one answer and

that is In marriage, people are more obligated or have more responsibilities than in

living together. Not a single person disagreed with this opinion while 15% didnt

think marriage gives that much responsibility on people. The reason why those young

peoples are so sure about marriage lifes having much responsibilities can be their
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easy access to different cultures through satellite that shows many day to day life

stories.

Should same sex marriage be legalized?

Data Analysis - No matter to what extent western cultures affect our own culture,

most of the young people have still not agreed on the legalization of same-sex

marriage. Conversely, 4 among 20 people (that is about 20%) think it should be

legalized while 3 have never thought about this issue.

Do you think career consciousness is influencing todays women in

delaying their marriage?

Though 80% of young people of my survey clearly agreed on one answer

Todays women are delaying in marriage because of their career consciousness, the

other 20% agreed implicitly on the same answer. The different women-oriented

programs on most of the foreign TV channels may play an important role for

progressively changing the whole situation.

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2/3 years before, were these opinions the same as they are now?

Data Analysis - From the table above, we can see that only one person claimed to

have the same opinion 2/3 years ago, while 12 people noticed that their opinions are

changing over time. 75% of the people consent (60% saying It is changing and 15%

No) on not having the same attitude and opinions a few years back, can show an

immense impact of a change in their perceptions. As in the first graph we saw that

80% believe to have at least a minor effect of satellite TV programs in changing their

opinion, we can link that with this change and can say that these changes in their

opinion can be a result of the spread of satellite dish all over the country.

COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT SOURCES USED

For my research purpose, I used different sources to learn about the effect of

foreign TV channels and how, other people think, these are changing a certain groups
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ideas related with their life. When I revised what I got from those different sources, I

found that in some issues the general people, the experts and the secondary sources

agreed, while on some issues they did not. Most of the general people agreed on these

foreign channels having effect at some extent on changing their ideas or opinions

while the experts said that Some aspects of marriage have been influenced to a

certain degree by satellite TV. (Asem) She thinks that Satellite TV is exposing more

young people to the idea that women should work and earn money whether they are

married or not, and that marriage is a viable option once you are earning money to

be financially independent. (Asem)According to her, Whether a large number of the

upper and middle classes of Bangladesh are affected by satellite TV will depend on

how much importance other corresponding aspects of social life (i.e. education,

parental teaching, religion and job availability) have on their lives. (Asem) The

article on a renowned newspaper based on the same topic also agrees How much a

modern youngster knows about his/her own culture depends on the home

environment. (Ahmad 1) Besides, while sharing their opinion, most young people

expressed their feelings about how those foreign TV channels are having a tendency

to make us feel indifferent towards nudity and vulgarity. Some think that the dress

code of the young generation is changing because of dish culture; some got innovative

make-up ideas while some others get conscious about feminism and female freedom.

Finally, the expert thinks that a larger proportion of the population needs to be assured

of a minimal standard of education to enable them to critically analyze and evaluate

the messages they are receiving through Satellite TV. (Asem)

EFFECT/CHANGES IN YOUNG PEOPLES IDEAS

The foreign TV channels programs exert an enormous influence over the lives

of young people. When the medium was first introduced, it was little more than a
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luxury for the wealthy, but now it is a luxury with great appeal, especially for young

people. It influences the way in which individuals and groups dress, talk, behave, and

think. The media, in the forms of movies, television, radio, and print as well as the

new electronic communications medium of the Internet, helps to connect individuals

to one another and to the world; invariably, this powerful influence shapes the ways in

which viewers or participants perceive the world and their own place within that

world. Given that young people are often highly impressionable and subject to such

influences, this reports next part will consider the effects of media on this particular

age group-

Kiyu Hota Hai Pyaar: A young-people oriented drama serial of star Plus showing a

more friendly relationship of young people.

Ideas about marriage

Traditionally and legally, marriage has been defined as a union of a man and

woman. It should however be noted that as an Islamic country, our societys concept

of love is different from the more commonly understood romantic love so valued in

Western cultures. There is no dating or living in defected relationship or trying each

other out before they commit to each other seriously. There is to be no physical

relationship what so ever before marriage. The parents or guardians of any of the
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parties may give advice, choose a marriage partner or use persuasion, but the final

decision to enter into a marriage must be the result of a free choice on the part of each

partner, even though this freely made choice may consist of nothing but accepting the

choice of one's parents or guardian. This right of free choice is fairly well recognized

in the case of men but (unfortunately) not in the case of women. Now-a-days because

of the entrance of different cultures through satellite dish, young people are getting

conscious about these traditional ideas. They now hardly support the idea of arranged

marriage where there is not enough scope to learn about the person whom one is

going to live with for the rest of his/her life. Programs like Kahin na kahin koi hai

on Sony entertainment television tried to inspire arranged marriage through TV

media, but that program was not a success. The programs like different soap operas

like Kashish on Zee TV, Hum Pardesi ho geya on Sony are showing the negative

aspects of marrying the people of parents choice without knowing about the person

and these programs are ultimately making people conscious. This is of course a

positive effect of foreign channels. These programs are helping them to know about

different sides of a particular event like arranged marriage and their previous ideas are

getting changed accordingly. Albeit till now they are considering marriage as a better

idea, their perceptions about arranged marriage are getting diverted.

Ideas about living together

Living together is a common phenomenon in western culture. A Few years ago

the Indian TV channels also started to move with it and in their programs directly or

indirectly they started to show some positive aspects of living together. As a result,

young people are now probably more used to the idea of dating, having non-marital

relationships and certainly of having less formal communication with someone of the

opposite sex. However Glenn T. Stanton in a web page troubledwith describes:

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Research continually reveals that married people are generally physically

healthier, happier, and live longer, enjoy better mental health, are more

fulfilled and less likely to suffer physical abuse. Premarital cohabitation

(living together as a family outside of legal marriage) does not bring the same

benefits marriage does. Instead, it brings increased conflict and aggression as

well as increased chance of divorce in later marriages. (1)

The idea of living together still is not a common incident in our country, but the ideas

are molding slowly. As a Muslim country our culture doesnt support living together

as a family outside of marriage. The family doesnt ever support their children living

with their boy/girlfriend before marriage as it is totally against our cultural norms.

The TV programs focusing on this issue are giving the ideas to the young people who

take it as a concern of their independency. Popular TV serials like Friends, The

Bold and the Beautiful, Baywatch Hawaii in Star World can be common examples

of showing this type of relationship which matches with their culture but not with

ours.

Same-sex attraction

In our society most people believe that attraction between man and woman

was instilled by the Creator to ensure the perpetuation of mortal life and to draw

husband and wife together in the family setting he prescribed for the accomplishment

of his purposes, including the raising of children. In contrast, I dont feel still they

could think about anything that differs from their usual idea. Same sex attraction is

still prohibited in our culture. Theoretically, homosexuality is defined as any kind of

erotic thoughts, feelings, or behavior towards persons of the same sex. The term same

sex attraction doesnt only mean when a man or a woman engages in sexual behavior

with a person of the same sex, it refers to even when a person has erotic feelings that
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could lead toward such behavior. The term is a common matter in western culture and

we are also now watching many programs, movies and dramas based on this topic via

satellite channels. I am not saying that young people are getting these feelings or

being attracted to this kind of relationship as it is an inherent quality of a human

being. Nevertheless, they are getting the ideas of this kind of relationship that are

completely opposite of our culture. In my survey I found that most young people are

opposed to the legalization of same-sex marriage, but they agreed that now a days

there are a lot of drama serials and movies on different channels showing this kind of

relationship. Not only western movies but also some Indians movies are now

presenting this issue in different ways. A few days ago, the Indian film industry

released a movie named Girlfriend based on lesbianism which was banned later on

the objection of general public in front of a cinema hall.

Womens Delaying in marriage for career consciousness

In our male dominated society, women dont have that much scope to think

about their career. Most of the cases, a wife has to compromise with her career for a

so called happy family life. A few years ago, it was a common scenario for girls to

sacrifice their career even after completing Honours or Masters in a good subject.

However, now the situation is changing. There are a lot programs on different TV

channels that are showing women working in different areas. These programs give

girls ideas of the breadth of their choices, encourage them to explore ideas that they

may not have thought possible before, and offer ideas about how they could achieve

their goals. Shows like Rendezvous with Simi Garewall The Oprah Winfreh

Show or Cover Story on Star world and different women oriented programs,

dramas and movies can play a significant role to inspire women with their objective.

Now-a-days most girls give priority to their careers more than all other things; there is
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even a tendency of delaying marriage because of career consciousness. They want to

complete their studies and to be established before marriage.

RECOMMENDATIONS

I hope that my research paper will have a great significance to know about

cultural changes through the entrance of satellite culture. It has both positive and

negative effects on our culture. We can justify and apply them in our own culture

judiciously. It will not be easy to stop the changes that do not match with our culture

as it comes from inside of a human being. However, I can recommend the following:

Positive and negative attributes of dish culture go side by side. We have to keep in

mind peace and pleasure is what we would like about cable TV, not violence and

destruction. One should guard against the tendency of taking a position that

everything coming from outside is necessarily bad or good.

Mahatma Gandhi said something about the effect that One should keep the windows

open so that the wind comes from different directions but not be so much that one is

swept off one's feet. I think this attitude and the need for free and balanced flow of

communication is needed for understanding the social and cultural impact.

Bangladeshi television programs need to focus on entertainment more, to make them

attractive and interesting rather than showing only political issue related conversation

programs and discussion types of programs.

CONCLUSION

Satellite dish culture is spreading all over the world on account of the fact that

we live in the age of information and communication. Its really up to us to decide

what we should watch and what we should consider to go after means we should have
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the ability to differentiate our own culture with others. Satellite TV is in no way

totally to blame--but its a start. It can change our perception of how life is supposed

to be. It is necessary and important to learn about the world, people, and life in other

ways that just living. If we didn't do that, we'd never get anywhere. We must learn

from other's achievements and failures. However, there are better types of media to

use to learn those things than just TV.

My thesis statement was Foreign TV channel programs are gradually

changing the idea of marriage/affair of young people. I found out through my

research that these foreign TV channel programs are having a superficial effect on

upper and middle class viewers generally. The reasons behind those programs

popularity are they are well presented, whatever the themes are these are designed to

attract the viewers; the glamour and the making of those programs also outshine the

Bengali programs. Our young generation is also influenced a lot by those programs I

want to conclude by saying that we can not stop the changes in culture, but if we want

we can at least reduce the negative changes in our culture while inspiring the positive

ones due to the programs of Indian TV channels.

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Works Cited

Ahmad, Sabrina F. Caught between cultures. Rising Stars 22 July, 2004.

Asian Educational Media Service. Media Review.

<http://www.aems.uiuc.edu/HTML/mir.las?-Database=aems%20Biblio.FP3&-

Layout=Media%20Information%20Record&BiblioID=2759&-Search>

Healy, Jane M. Understanding TV's effects on the developing brain. May 1998.

<http//www.aapnews.com>

Hill, Charles W. L. International Business-Competing in the global marketplace. 4th

ed. Tata McGraw Hill.

http://www.ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/singles/msg0509283117999.html

Impact of Indian TV channels programs over the cultural changes of Bangladesh

Eng105 paper.

Sabrina, Jafrin. Effect of Dish culture in Bangladesh Eng105 paper.

Stanton, Glenn T. Marriage vs. Living Together Troublewith 1997.

http://www.troubledwith.com/stellent/groups/public/

%5C@fotf_troubledwith/documents/articles/twi_036526.cfm?channel=Love

%20and%20Sex&topic=Living%20Together&sssct=Questions%20and

%20Answers

Youth Information. Home page 16 August 2004

<http://www.youthinformation.com/infopage.asp?snID=388>
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