Social Impact of Television in Brazil

March 2, 2006

While almost any Brazilian will readily admit that the growth and spread of television has had a profound effect on the ideas, values, and behavior of ordinary citizens, both rich and poor, elsewhere, at least in academic circles, the notion that television is an important source of social change remains controversial.

Researchers will present findings from a multi-disciplinary research project that has attempted to investigate the ways that television is leading to the spread and adoption of new ideas regarding reproduction, gender, and family in Brazil.

The project had a historical component focusing on the changes that took place between the introduction of television around 1960 and the late 1990s, as well as a reception study that we carried out in conjunction with a particular prime-time telenovela, O Rei do Gado ("The Cattle King"), that aired between July 1996 and February 1997.

The historical component covers both the evolution of television during this 40-year period, as well as the associated social and demographic change. The reception study made use of a variety of methods (a survey, ethnography, and focus groups) and was carried out in a favela in São Paulo, a mid-sized city in the interior of Minas Gerais, Montes Claros, as well as a small town in the interior of the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte.

For more info., contact the Brazil Center at 512.471.8418 or brazil@uts.cc.utexas.edu.

Sponsored by the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, Population Research Center, Department of Sociology, and Brazil Center.

Papers:

Antonio La Pastina
Dr. La Pastina is a professor of Communications at Texas A&M University. His research interests are in the representation of otherness in mainstream media and the implications of the digital divide to peripheral communities. He earned his Ph.D. at The University of Texas and his dissertation was "The Telenovela Way of Knowledge: An ethnographic reception study among rural viewers in Brazil." He is the author of Audience Ethnographies-Media Engagement: A model for studying audiences in Media Anthopology (in press).

Eduardo Rios-Neto Dr. Rios-Neto is a professor of Demography at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. He is a past president of the Brazilian Population Association and did a post-doc at UT. His research focuses on population policy, eduction and women's participation in the labor market, and fertility and consumption. He is the author of "Women's participation in the labor market in Brazil: Elements for projecting levels and Trends" in Brazilian Journal Of Population Studies (2001).

Emile G. McAnany Dr. McAnany is currently a professor of Communications at Santa Clara University. He previously taught for 17 years at The University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on the social and cultural impacts of various communication technologies in Third World countries, especially Latin America. He is the author of "Mass Media and Fertility Change" in Diffusion Processes and Fertility Transition (2001).

Esther I. Hamburger Dr. Hamburger is a professor of Anthropology in the School of Communication at the Universidade de São Paulo. Her doctoral dissertation was "Politics and Intimacy in Brazilian Telenovelas" (University of Chicago). Her research focuses on media representations of urban societies. She is the author of "Politics of Representation: Television in a São Paulo Favela" in The Journal of Cinema and Media (2003).

Joseph E. Potter Dr. Potter is a professor of Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin and director of the Vilmar Faria Fellowship in Quantitative Analysis and Public Policy at the UT Population Research Center. He is the co-PI of "The Fertility Transition in Brazil: 1960-2000," a major project funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. His research interests are in reproductive health, population and development, and demographic estimation. He is the author "Politics and Female Sterilization in the Brazilian Northeast" in Population and Development Review (2004).

Paula Miranda-Ribeiro Dr. Miranda Ribeiro is currently Chair of the Department of Demography at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Her reseach interests are in juvenile reproductive health and qualitative research methods. She earned her Ph.D. at The University of Texas and wrote her dissertation on "Telenovelas and the Sexuality Transition among Teenagers in Brazil." She is the author of "Já nas bancas: a saúde reprodutiva das adolescentes vista através das revistas Querida e Capricho" in Revista Brasileira de Estudos de População (2002).

Program:

1:30-1:45
Introduction

1:45-2:15
The History of Telenovelas in Brazil: An addiction to melodrama
Emile McAnany and Esther Hamburger

2:15-2:40
The Spread of Television and Fertility Decline
Joseph E. Potter

2:40-3:00
O Rei do Gado and the Three Study Sites
Esther Hamburger

3:00-3:15
Coffee break

3:15-4:00
Gender, Family, and Telenovelas: An ethnographic approach
Esther Hamburger and Antonio La Pastina

4:00-4:30 Sex and Intimacy: A comparison across two generations Paula Miranda-Ribeiro

4:30-5:00
Consumption, Lifestyles, and Television Viewership
Eduardo Rios-Neto

5:00-5:30
Discussion

  • Conference Poster [pdf - 221KB]