UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff CCeennttrraall FFlloorriiddaa SSTTAARRSS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2008 BBrrootthheerrss && SSiisstteerrss:: AA NNeeww IImmppeettuuss FFoorr SSoocciiaall CCoonnssttrruuccttiioonn AAnndd IIttss IImmppaacctt OOnn TTrraaddiittiioonnaall CCuullttiivvaattiioonn AAnnaallyyssiiss Scott Elmore University of Central Florida Part of the Communication Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SSTTAARRSS CCiittaattiioonn Elmore, Scott, "Brothers & Sisters: A New Impetus For Social Construction And Its Impact On Traditional Cultivation Analysis" (2008). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 3486. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/3486 BROTHERS & SISTERS: A NEW IMPETUS FOR SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND ITS IMPACT ON TRADITIONAL CULTIVATION ANALYSIS by SCOTT RICHARD ELMORE B.A. Mount Vernon Nazarene University, 2005 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Nicholson School of Communication in the College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Spring Term 2008 © 2008 Scott R. Elmore i i ABSTRACT Scholars recognize television's ability to influence culture. According to Gerbner, television creates socially constructed realities through the cultivation of its viewers. Television is designed to satisfy the diverse needs of large audiences. The mainstream messages conveyed via television have power to alter perceptions and change culture. Gerbner's theory was constructed from the analysis of crime dramas with single plot lines. Using the ABC television program Brothers & Sisters, this thesis explores the theoretical implications dramas with multiple plot lines have on traditional notions of cultivation theory. Through a content analysis and focus groups, evidence was acquired to suggest that cultivation theory, with the added consideration of involvement, is still able to explain television's influence on the social creation of reality. ii i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to extend my gratitude to my thesis committee chair and adviser, Dr. Rick Kenney, and my thesis committee members, Dr. Denise DeLorme and Dr. Dan Shaver, for their guidance, insight, and patience through this process. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 Background ............................................................................................................................ 2 CHAPTER 2: THEORY ................................................................................................................. 7 CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH QUESTION ..................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER 5: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................ 27 Content Analysis .................................................................................................................. 27 Focus Groups ....................................................................................................................... 31 CHAPTER 6: FINDINGS............................................................................................................. 36 Content Analysis .................................................................................................................. 36 Focus Groups ....................................................................................................................... 48 CHAPTER 7: DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................ 61 Hypothesis 1......................................................................................................................... 61 Hypothesis 2......................................................................................................................... 63 Hypothesis 3......................................................................................................................... 66 CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSION, LIMITATIONS, AND FUTURE RESEARCH......................... 70 APPENDIX A: CONTENT ANALYSIS CODING SCHEME.................................................... 75 APPENDIX B: IRB APPROVAL LETTER ................................................................................ 77 APPENDIX C: INFORMED CONSENT AGREEMENT ........................................................... 79 APPENDIX D: FOCUS GROUP DEMOGRAPHIC SURVEY INSTRUMENT ....................... 83 APPENDIX E: FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW GUIDE ............................................................. 85 LIST OF REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 88 v LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1: FREQUENCIES OF COMMENTS ABOUT POLITICAL PARTIES ...................... 37  TABLE 2: FREQUENCIES OF COMMENTS ABOUT INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERS ......... 38  TABLE 3: FREQUENCIES OF COMMENTS ABOUT THE WAR ON TERROR .................. 39  TABLE 4: FREQUENCIES OF COMMENTS ABOUT GAY MARRIAGE ............................. 39  TABLE 5: POLITICAL AFFILIATION OF EACH CHARACTER ........................................... 41  TABLE 6: CORRELATION BETWEEN CHARACTER AFFILIATION AND GENERAL POLITICAL STATEMENTS................................................................................................ 44  TABLE 7: CORRELATION BETWEEN CHARACTER AFFILIATION AND STATEMENTS SAID ABOUT INDIVIDUAL AFFILIATIONS .................................................................. 45  TABLE 8: CORRELATION BETWEEN CHARACTER AFFILIATION AND STATEMENTS RECEIVED ABOUT INDIVIDUAL AFFILIATIONS ........................................................ 45  TABLE 9: CORRELATION BETWEEN CHARACTER AFFILIATION AND THE WAR ON TERROR ............................................................................................................................... 46  TABLE 10: CORRELATION BETWEEN CHARACTER AFFILIATION AND GAY MARRIAGE OPINIONS ...................................................................................................... 47  v i CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION At its core, “culture” is a dynamic body of commonalities in tastes and preferences within a community or group of communities. Communication scholar George Gerbner (1990) eloquently stated that “Culture is a symbolic organization that cultivates our conceptions of existence, priorities, values, and relationships. We derive from it notions of what is; what is important; what is good, bad, or endowed with other qualities; and what is related to what” (p. 251). Culture, therefore, is a powerful force as it provides community members with a sense of rightness and wrongness, as well as an organized set of expectations. From a global level to a national level to a local level, community members are tied together through cultural practices and shared ideas. The purpose of this thesis is to apply cultivation theory, a communication theory that seeks to explain the creation of socially constructed cultures, to a study focused on political cultivation resulting from the television program Brothers & Sisters. Through the use of a content analysis and focus groups, this investigation will attempt to uncover any implications that this genre of programming may have on traditional cultivation theory. The scope of this thesis is to highlight the challenges for cultivation scholars and not the precise level of cultivation present in the audience of Brothers & Sisters. ABC’s hit drama Brothers & Sisters began its second season in the fall of 2007. The show centers on the interactions of an affluent family as its members deal with the death of their patriarch and the secrets he left behind. As viewers get to know the Walker family, the family’s political ideas are under constant scrutiny. Half of the family is staunchly conservative while the other half is vehemently liberal. Each member of the family represents a major issue facing the nation today. Oldest sister Sarah is the president of the successful family agricultural business. Brother Tommy is an entrepreneur who struggles to finance a new business venture. Sister Kitty, 1 who begins the series as a conservative pundit on a cable news program, concludes the first season as the communications director for a Republican senator representing California. Brother Kevin is a gay attorney disgruntled that he cannot get married. Youngest brother Justin is an Afghanistan veteran who is ordered to fight in Iraq. The family matriarch Nora wants only for her children to be happy in the wake of her husband’s death but does not agree with Kitty’s politics or Justin’s military service. A unique feature of this show is that the political dialogue revolves around current policy debates of our nation. References are made to President George W. Bush and his agenda. Aspects of the War on Terror are discussed in almost every episode, as is the economy. Everything else about the show, however, is fictional. Even the show's U.S. senator, Robert McCallister, is fictional. This show seemingly merges real-time fact and fiction into a one-hour weekly drama program for mainstream consumption. Background Communication as a comprehensive discipline is concerned with how people communicate culture and within culture. The study of culture, however, does not end there. Mass communication, a subset discipline within the field of communication, has direct ties to facilitating and maintaining culture. In fact, mass communication may even be responsible for creating and spreading new cultural ideals. One mass communication medium of scholarly research for this phenomenon is television. Many communication scholars concur that television is a dominant culture shaper because of its prevalence in our lives and its far-reaching accessibility (Russell, Norman & Heckler, 2004, p. 276-277). Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, and Signorielli (1986) argued that television “is part and parcel of our daily lives. Its drama, commercials, news, and other programs bring a relatively coherent world of common images and 2 messages into every home” (p. 18). These researchers found that, in an average home, the television is on at least seven hours a day and that each family member more than two years old within a household consumes more than four hours of television daily (p. 19). One reason for television’s prevalence is simply the myriad of functions it serves. Television obviously serves an entertainment function. Gerbner et al. (1986) stated that “Television is a centralized system of storytelling” (p. 18). Most television consumers use television for entertainment purposes. Common genres for entertainment include situational comedies, dramas, made-for-television movies, and sporting events. Television networks also broadcast feature films and Hollywood blockbusters after the movies leave theaters. As explained by Kellner (1981), television serves as a political forum. A two-fold political function is created because television is a corporate industry controlled by boardrooms and advertisers, although the television airwaves are for public consumption. Even with the advent of the Internet, television is still a chief source for news information during the course of a political campaign or policy debate. In some ways, the Internet merely enhances the information presented in nightly news broadcasts and major events. For example, more people learned news about Princess Diana’s funeral and the 9/11 attacks from television than from other news sources (see Brown, Basil & Bocarnea (2003) and Kanihan & Gale (2003)). Not only does the television allow for political dialogue, but it also sets the agenda for policy debate. During the civil rights movement of the 1960s, television was instrumental, as opposed to newspapers, in disseminating the messages of the policy debate, even though the images displayed were contradictory to majority values (Kellner, 1981, pp. 42-46). In agenda-setting fashion, it is as if corporate executives use television programming to act out their own policy debate. “It is therefore mistaken to define television as a monolithic tool of a unified ruling class. Instead, 3