Exposure to Global Cultural Scripts through Media and Attitudes toward Violence against Women

• In Event: 2460 - Globalization

Abstract

Global cultural scripts are spreading to lay people around the world and affecting their attitudes. The sources of information that expose people to these scripts contain far more diversity in content than recognized. I focus on the exposure mechanism of media and examine the effects of various types of media on people’s attitudinal rejection of violence against women in Malawi. Combining five national surveys between 2000 and 2016 with a new dataset capturing local newspaper content, I show that media effects are heterogeneous. Personal radio use, especially listening to programs that criticize violence against women, increases rejection of such violence. Conversely, television consumption decreases rejection, as much of the content available comes from foreign sources that depict violent behavior. The publication of newspaper articles condemning violence increases rejection of violence against women net of personal newspaper use. Moreover, people’s odds of rejection increased after the country’s only tabloid newspaper, which normalized violence and negatively portrayed women, abruptly shut down. These results support the conclusion that different types of media have divergent influences on people’s attitudes toward violence against women. The effect of media as a mechanism of global cultural diffusion is contingent on its content.

Author

• Jeffrey Swindle, University of Michigan