Moral Change Between 1960 And 1980
Moral Changes
Moral is a wide word, containing lots of meanings and cannot be defined in one form. Morals are constantly changing especially with the overexposure of media. There has been no study up to date to prove that morals have changed in relation to media exposure, but the societies behavior in the past 30 years have proved that there could be a moral change. A study compared the morals of American people between years 1960 and 1980 shows that in the year 1980 , 78 percent of young people do not have a sense of right and wrong, and 46 percent in 1960. 71 percent in 1980 do not lead lives as honest and moral, and 52 percent in 1960. 87 percent in 1980 believe that homosexuals should have equal rights, and 56 percent in 1960. 75 percent …show more content…
approve of marriage between two different religions, where in 1960 59 percent did. (Blendon , Benson , Brodie ,Altman, Morin, Dean & Kjellson ,1999). This study shows us that the societies’ moral compass decreased within 20 years. It is predicted that the decrease would be greater if compared to todays morals .
Rise of media
We will go back to the history of media exposure and how it increased throughout the years.
Before world war II ( September 1939-September 1945) the only form of media available to the young was of print, which is magazines, newspapers and books. After war, and with the introduction of a new form of media which is television, it started to become available in almost every household, By year 1946, 55 percent of houses contained a television, this rate has increased to 87 percent by the year 1960.( Defleur & Rokeach ,1989). Going further 40 years ahead, the US Census Bureau estimated that not only every household contained a television but, it had an average of 2.4 television sets per household.( Asides the major spread of television throughout households, the personal computer has also entered households , 75 percent availability by the year …show more content…
2003.
Similarly, the internet, it has ben available to 63 percent of households by the year 2003, and each of those houses had children of ages between 3- 17 years old( Newberger,2005).
Media exposure rates
Today, media is not only available at homes and schools on televisions and computers, but with the introduction of cell phones and personal computers and gadgets, these children/teenagers have access to media 24 hours a day from anywhere they want, therefore it has become a basic need for today’s teenagers. In addition, it has become no choice for many children/teenagers/adults to get exposed to media, because whether or not they are using media , they are being exposed to it indirectly throughout their day in many forms such as magazines, billboards, television etc.… one results shows that the amount of teenager being indirectly exposed to media is more than the actual time teenagers intentionally “use” the media (Roberts & Foehr, 2008). A study conducted under the Kaiser Family Foundation which examines the media use of children and teenagers ,shows that 99 percent of children/teenagers ages 6-18 have television in their homes,68 percent have television in their bedroom , 40 percent have a personal computer and 50 percent have a cell phone ( Kaiser Family Foundation,2003). 8-18 year olds spend time on media than they do on any other activity, they are reported to use media more that six hours per day (Robert & Foehr,2003).
Media Content
With the growth of media, and change in the amount of exposure to media, comes a change in the content of the media itself. For example, television used to contain one family oriented program for the entire family to watch. Now, the television contains a variety of programs, each devoted for a specific age/interest group so, it is not surprising why media usage hours have been increasing. Given that television is the most commonly used for of media, with a 99 percent availability in households (Kaiser Family Foundation,2003) the content of television content is examined. Sexual content have become so common on television nowadays, especially on the most popular/successful tv shows (Murphey, 2012). A study done by (Landua, 2008) finds out that for every hour of TV program shown, there is a sexual content displayed at least every ten minutes. Sexual content started to gradually appear on TV, year after year it started increasing so, the following TV programs listing will show the elevation of TV sexual content and the pushing of boundaries to further levels: The TV show Ozzie and Harriet (1947) showed the first couple on television to share a bed (couple where married off screen). TV show I Dream of Jeannie (1960) the first women on TV to be shown wearing a bikini top. TV show Bewitched (1964) first couple to be shown on TV sharing a bed, who are not married off-screen. TV show LA Law(1991) showed the first couple of the same sex to share a kiss on TV. Many channels, specifically Primetime( TV channel with high sexual content) have been making billions of dollars of the idea that “sex sells” (Murphy,2012). The Kaiser Foundation conducted a study which found out that among 20 most popular shows, 70 percent contained sexual content (Graham, 2005 ). With the very high rate of sexual content throughout TV shows, this has created a shift in our societies’ values.” The media have become important sex educators as they include frequent discussion and portrayals of sexual behaviors that effect adolescent’s conception of sexual behavior.” (Stern, 2009). It has been influencing the minds of teenagers, making them think that the idea o sex is “normal” and “glamorous” (Stern,2009) with this excessive amount of sexual content on television and through other forms of media, it is pressuring teenagers to become sexually active just to be “cool” or not to be left out (Stern,2009).
Advertisement content
Advertisements, found in every part of media round us, whether it is magazines, newspapers, Internet, television and street billboards. The content of these advertisements around us, specifically that contain nude images, have caused a phenomenon.
Nudity is most commonly found in three forms.
First, Art: Nudity used to be a subject that is expected to be found in art galleries, where just a certain type of people appreciated this type of art went to see(Eck,2001). Second, pornography: which is found in private for specific type of people who are interested in it. Third: Science: usually found in areas of biology when studying the human body. Nudity used to be found in these three different forms but the forth and newest form that has been arising is the Nudity in Advertisement and magazines covers, where nude content is viewed to the entire public.(Eck,2001) . Nowadays, nudity has become so common in modern, high-end advertisements and magazines. Advertisements these days rely more on content which contains nudity, since this could mean more attention to the products therefore more recognition and sales (LaTour,Pitts & Snook-Luther ,1990). The phenomenon of public nudity in advertisement has been gradually increasing and eventually the society is becoming more accepting to this matter .in August 1991Vanity Fair featured a cover of actress Demi Moore where she was pregnant and nude, this caused a controversy when some distributers sold the magazine with a brown paper banner on it while other distributers just refused to even resell it. People reacted to this magazine cover, some saying it is “repulsive” and some said “ it is artistic” (Eck,2001). In 2005, Beetles and Harris conducted a research to study attitudes
towards female nudity advertisement; subjects were males and females of different age groups. They were shown various advertisement all containing nude content, the researchers noted down the subjects reaction after seeing the advertisement some where: “ Its not even vaguely sensual, sexy or nice, its just a body.” “I find it interesting that she is still wearing heels and that makes it really sexual” “sexy,feminine,pretty and natural”. (Beetles & Harris,2005) . The previous research shows that in 2005 subjects reaction to viewing nude advertisement was not negative. where in 1990 some people still did accept this matter.
Celebrities and their impact on morals
The influence of celebrities on society has expanded to go far from just a typical admiring of a superstar. But it had influenced the societies political, religious and behavioral stands as a result of copying these celebrities. Celebrities in the 21st century are not restricted to be a “celebrity” because of a certain “talent” or “accomplishment”, but it is about how they become famous for no particular reason taking Paris Hilton as an example (Carter,2006).the global media has played a role in presenting those “celebrities” to us, where eventually and unfortunately they are becoming role models to many people.it used to be that people were effected by other people in terms of making choices, in the 21st century people are influenced by celebrity endorsement and any person who is “internet famous” (Choi & Berger ,2010).to show how much people are influenced by celebrities ,Warren and Halpern-Manners (2007) quote their study ,have researched 653 NY middle school students and asked them about what their ideal job is, 43.4% answered ‘personal assistant to a very famous celebrity’ .global internet has access to these celebrities lives and that’s why it will increase the influence of celebrities on out society (Choi & Berger ,2010)
Nudity for a cause
Since 1990, PETA have created a campaign by the name “id rather go naked than wear fur” which speaks to the society about how killing animals and wearing fur is cruel. This campaign features celebrities going completely naked in order to stand for what they believe is “animal rights”(Dechka,2008)
Furthermore this phenomenon of being nude for a cause has expanded to the Middle East. In this self-broadcasting world it has become very normal to post your own picture online. In November 2011,the twenty year old Egyptian blogger Alia Mahdi had posed nude and posted a picture of herself on her blog to sand for equality between men and women. The photograph had a viewing of 1.5 million within a week. This act has et Alias popularity to increase, and her story to be talked about all over the Arab world (Mourad, 2013).Alia’s blog had three million visitors after uploading the photo.(Al-Ayoubi,2011).When asked about the photo ,Alia described it as nude art and freedom of expression. With the rise of media in the Arab world, Arab youths have been labels as a generation that is lazy, lacks morals and extremely influenced by the west (Moawed & Qiblawi ,2010). On December 2012, FEMEN a Ukrainian women’s right movement group which also known to be controversial for going nude for any cause they stand for. They have released a video of their members along side Alia Mahdi standing nude in front of an Egyptian embassy in Stockholm to object the new Egyptian constitution (Mourad,2014)
Moral is a wide word, containing lots of meanings and cannot be defined in one form. Morals are constantly changing especially with the overexposure of media. There has been no study up to date to prove that morals have changed in relation to media exposure, but the societies behavior in the past 30 years have proved that there could be a moral change. A study compared the morals of American people between years 1960 and 1980 shows that in the year 1980 , 78 percent of young people do not have a sense of right and wrong, and 46 percent in 1960. 71 percent in 1980 do not lead lives as honest and moral, and 52 percent in 1960. 87 percent in 1980 believe that homosexuals should have equal rights, and 56 percent in 1960. 75 percent …show more content…
approve of marriage between two different religions, where in 1960 59 percent did. (Blendon , Benson , Brodie ,Altman, Morin, Dean & Kjellson ,1999). This study shows us that the societies’ moral compass decreased within 20 years. It is predicted that the decrease would be greater if compared to todays morals .
Rise of media
We will go back to the history of media exposure and how it increased throughout the years.
Before world war II ( September 1939-September 1945) the only form of media available to the young was of print, which is magazines, newspapers and books. After war, and with the introduction of a new form of media which is television, it started to become available in almost every household, By year 1946, 55 percent of houses contained a television, this rate has increased to 87 percent by the year 1960.( Defleur & Rokeach ,1989). Going further 40 years ahead, the US Census Bureau estimated that not only every household contained a television but, it had an average of 2.4 television sets per household.( Asides the major spread of television throughout households, the personal computer has also entered households , 75 percent availability by the year …show more content…
2003.
Similarly, the internet, it has ben available to 63 percent of households by the year 2003, and each of those houses had children of ages between 3- 17 years old( Newberger,2005).
Media exposure rates
Today, media is not only available at homes and schools on televisions and computers, but with the introduction of cell phones and personal computers and gadgets, these children/teenagers have access to media 24 hours a day from anywhere they want, therefore it has become a basic need for today’s teenagers. In addition, it has become no choice for many children/teenagers/adults to get exposed to media, because whether or not they are using media , they are being exposed to it indirectly throughout their day in many forms such as magazines, billboards, television etc.… one results shows that the amount of teenager being indirectly exposed to media is more than the actual time teenagers intentionally “use” the media (Roberts & Foehr, 2008). A study conducted under the Kaiser Family Foundation which examines the media use of children and teenagers ,shows that 99 percent of children/teenagers ages 6-18 have television in their homes,68 percent have television in their bedroom , 40 percent have a personal computer and 50 percent have a cell phone ( Kaiser Family Foundation,2003). 8-18 year olds spend time on media than they do on any other activity, they are reported to use media more that six hours per day (Robert & Foehr,2003).
Media Content
With the growth of media, and change in the amount of exposure to media, comes a change in the content of the media itself. For example, television used to contain one family oriented program for the entire family to watch. Now, the television contains a variety of programs, each devoted for a specific age/interest group so, it is not surprising why media usage hours have been increasing. Given that television is the most commonly used for of media, with a 99 percent availability in households (Kaiser Family Foundation,2003) the content of television content is examined. Sexual content have become so common on television nowadays, especially on the most popular/successful tv shows (Murphey, 2012). A study done by (Landua, 2008) finds out that for every hour of TV program shown, there is a sexual content displayed at least every ten minutes. Sexual content started to gradually appear on TV, year after year it started increasing so, the following TV programs listing will show the elevation of TV sexual content and the pushing of boundaries to further levels: The TV show Ozzie and Harriet (1947) showed the first couple on television to share a bed (couple where married off screen). TV show I Dream of Jeannie (1960) the first women on TV to be shown wearing a bikini top. TV show Bewitched (1964) first couple to be shown on TV sharing a bed, who are not married off-screen. TV show LA Law(1991) showed the first couple of the same sex to share a kiss on TV. Many channels, specifically Primetime( TV channel with high sexual content) have been making billions of dollars of the idea that “sex sells” (Murphy,2012). The Kaiser Foundation conducted a study which found out that among 20 most popular shows, 70 percent contained sexual content (Graham, 2005 ). With the very high rate of sexual content throughout TV shows, this has created a shift in our societies’ values.” The media have become important sex educators as they include frequent discussion and portrayals of sexual behaviors that effect adolescent’s conception of sexual behavior.” (Stern, 2009). It has been influencing the minds of teenagers, making them think that the idea o sex is “normal” and “glamorous” (Stern,2009) with this excessive amount of sexual content on television and through other forms of media, it is pressuring teenagers to become sexually active just to be “cool” or not to be left out (Stern,2009).
Advertisement content
Advertisements, found in every part of media round us, whether it is magazines, newspapers, Internet, television and street billboards. The content of these advertisements around us, specifically that contain nude images, have caused a phenomenon.
Nudity is most commonly found in three forms.
First, Art: Nudity used to be a subject that is expected to be found in art galleries, where just a certain type of people appreciated this type of art went to see(Eck,2001). Second, pornography: which is found in private for specific type of people who are interested in it. Third: Science: usually found in areas of biology when studying the human body. Nudity used to be found in these three different forms but the forth and newest form that has been arising is the Nudity in Advertisement and magazines covers, where nude content is viewed to the entire public.(Eck,2001) . Nowadays, nudity has become so common in modern, high-end advertisements and magazines. Advertisements these days rely more on content which contains nudity, since this could mean more attention to the products therefore more recognition and sales (LaTour,Pitts & Snook-Luther ,1990). The phenomenon of public nudity in advertisement has been gradually increasing and eventually the society is becoming more accepting to this matter .in August 1991Vanity Fair featured a cover of actress Demi Moore where she was pregnant and nude, this caused a controversy when some distributers sold the magazine with a brown paper banner on it while other distributers just refused to even resell it. People reacted to this magazine cover, some saying it is “repulsive” and some said “ it is artistic” (Eck,2001). In 2005, Beetles and Harris conducted a research to study attitudes
towards female nudity advertisement; subjects were males and females of different age groups. They were shown various advertisement all containing nude content, the researchers noted down the subjects reaction after seeing the advertisement some where: “ Its not even vaguely sensual, sexy or nice, its just a body.” “I find it interesting that she is still wearing heels and that makes it really sexual” “sexy,feminine,pretty and natural”. (Beetles & Harris,2005) . The previous research shows that in 2005 subjects reaction to viewing nude advertisement was not negative. where in 1990 some people still did accept this matter.
Celebrities and their impact on morals
The influence of celebrities on society has expanded to go far from just a typical admiring of a superstar. But it had influenced the societies political, religious and behavioral stands as a result of copying these celebrities. Celebrities in the 21st century are not restricted to be a “celebrity” because of a certain “talent” or “accomplishment”, but it is about how they become famous for no particular reason taking Paris Hilton as an example (Carter,2006).the global media has played a role in presenting those “celebrities” to us, where eventually and unfortunately they are becoming role models to many people.it used to be that people were effected by other people in terms of making choices, in the 21st century people are influenced by celebrity endorsement and any person who is “internet famous” (Choi & Berger ,2010).to show how much people are influenced by celebrities ,Warren and Halpern-Manners (2007) quote their study ,have researched 653 NY middle school students and asked them about what their ideal job is, 43.4% answered ‘personal assistant to a very famous celebrity’ .global internet has access to these celebrities lives and that’s why it will increase the influence of celebrities on out society (Choi & Berger ,2010)
Nudity for a cause
Since 1990, PETA have created a campaign by the name “id rather go naked than wear fur” which speaks to the society about how killing animals and wearing fur is cruel. This campaign features celebrities going completely naked in order to stand for what they believe is “animal rights”(Dechka,2008)
Furthermore this phenomenon of being nude for a cause has expanded to the Middle East. In this self-broadcasting world it has become very normal to post your own picture online. In November 2011,the twenty year old Egyptian blogger Alia Mahdi had posed nude and posted a picture of herself on her blog to sand for equality between men and women. The photograph had a viewing of 1.5 million within a week. This act has et Alias popularity to increase, and her story to be talked about all over the Arab world (Mourad, 2013).Alia’s blog had three million visitors after uploading the photo.(Al-Ayoubi,2011).When asked about the photo ,Alia described it as nude art and freedom of expression. With the rise of media in the Arab world, Arab youths have been labels as a generation that is lazy, lacks morals and extremely influenced by the west (Moawed & Qiblawi ,2010). On December 2012, FEMEN a Ukrainian women’s right movement group which also known to be controversial for going nude for any cause they stand for. They have released a video of their members along side Alia Mahdi standing nude in front of an Egyptian embassy in Stockholm to object the new Egyptian constitution (Mourad,2014)