NCJ Number
151058
Date Published
1994
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This discussion of the impacts of violence on television argues that the scientific literature on this topic is not decisive and that the attack on televised fantasy violence can be framed as an attack on popular culture by the detractors of that culture.
Abstract
Despite the general agreement that televised violence has adverse effects upon individuals and society, it is not impossible that the phenomenon has been misunderstood and that the actual effects are positive. The scientific studies on the subject of viewing violence assume that the relationship between the programming and the viewer is one of cause and effect, although many other kinds of relationships are conceivable, and that causation works in only one direction. Even given the questionable assumptions, the findings are less than unanimous and less than pronounced. In fact, personal reflection about television viewing can produce the conclusion that television pushes a person toward sleep rather than activity. Thus, the concern about television violence may rest on the longstanding cultural conflict of high culture versus popular culture. Even if these points are ignored, efforts to censor television violence would face Constitutional obstacles. Note and 16 references