Learning to Hate Americans : How U. S. Media Shape Negative Attitudes among Teenagers in Twelve Countries

by Defleur, Melvin L.; Defleur, Margaret H.

• ISBN13: 9780922993055
• ISBN10: 092299305X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-11-01
• Publisher: Marquette Books

Author Biography

Melvin L. DeFleur (Ph.D. University of Washington) is a professor of mass communication in the College of Communication at Boston University, where he has served as an administrator, teacher and researcher since 1994 Margaret H. DeFleur (Ph.D. Syracuse University) is an associate professor of mass communication in the College of Communication at Boston University, where she teaches courses in quantitative research methods and mass communication theory

Table of Contents

INDEX TO TABLES AND FIGURES,	7	(2)
FOREWORD BY DAVID DEMERS,	9	(2)
DEDICATION & ACKNOWLEDGMENTS,	11	(2)
1. INTRODUCTION,	13	(14)
Background,	16	(2)
The Central Issues Investigated,	18	(3)
Who Designs, Develops and Distributes Media Entertainment Products?	21	(6)
2 WHY Do THEY HATE US?	27	(8)
The United States as Superpower,	28	(2)
The Issue of American Cultural Imperialism,	30	(1)
Religion as a Factor,	31	(1)
The Contribution of the Negative Incident,	32	(3)
3 OBJECTIVES AND OBSERVATIONAL STRATEGIES,	35	(10)
Defining and Measuring Attitudes,	36	(2)
Defining the "Attitude Object" of the Project,	38	(3)
The Likert Scale Items and the Larger Questionnaire,	41	(1)
Assessing the Influences of Depictions of Americans in Popular Culture,	41	(4)
4 CONTACTING TEENAGERS TO ASSESS BELIEFS AND ATTITUDES,	45	(6)
Strategies Used to Administer the Questionnaire,	46	(2)
Who Were the Teenagers Studied?	48	(3)
5 WHAT WERE THE FINDINGS?	51	(26)
An Overview Based on the Combined Data from All Twelve Countries,	51	(4)
Profiles of Specific Beliefs about Americans Obtained in Each Country,	55	(1)
Responses by Each Country to Each Attitude Statement,	55	(13)
Results Obtained from the Media Influences Subscale,	68	(9)
6 A MULTI-STAGE EXPLANATION OF MEDIA INFLUENCES,	77	(34)
Making a Profit in a Capitalistic Economic System,	78	(1)
The "Invisible Hand" Controlling the Marketplace,	79	(1)
The Problem of "Quality,"	80	(1)
The "Inner Man" as "Internal Spectator,	81	(3)
The Market: Demographic Characteristics of the Global Audience,	84	(4)
Media Dependence on Popular Culture,	88	(5)
The Creeping Cycle of Desensitization,	93	(1)
Seeking Gratification from Media Entertainment,	94	(2)
The Process of Incidental Learning,	96	(3)
The Social Construction of Reality,	99	(4)
The Gradual Accumulation of Minimal Effects,	103	(2)
Putting It Together: A Master Theory of the Effects of Mass Communicated Entertainment,	105	(6)
7 IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE,	111	(12)
Role of Youth in Acts of Terrorism: A Political Perspective,	111	(3)
Terrorism Threats and Stresses on Americans: A Public Health Perspective,	114	(1)
Negative Attitudes and the Marketplace: An Economic Perspective,	114	(2)
Prospects for Change,	116	(7)
INDEX,	123