Everyone groans when you mention them; women are afraid to quit work in case they become addicts; the obnoxious boss in the film Nine to Five was chained to a bed and forced to watch Days of Our Lives by his insurgent female workers; yet every day millions of viewers across the nations turn on, tune in and daze out. So what is it about soap operas that makes them so popular? Critics of popular culture claim that it is a tool of capitalist domination (Connell, 1977; Miliband, 1973) or a new and improved opium of the people (Howe, 1957:497; McQueen, 1977; Slater, 1976). Apologists argue that popular culture can have an integrating effect by maintaining social consensus (Singer, 1976), or that since it is the reflection of the tastes of sections of our society it has an intrinsic value (Gans, 1974).
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdlerR., ‘Afternoon Television: Unhappiness Enough, and Time’ in NewcombH., ed, Television: The Critical View, Oxford University Press, New York, 54–65, 1976.
2.
AdornoT.W., ‘Television and the Patterns of Mass Culture’ in NewcombH., ed, ibid, 239–259.
3.
ArnheimR., ‘The World of the Daytime Serial’ in SchrammW., ed, Mass Communications, University of Illinois Press, Il, 392–411, 1960.
4.
BanduraA., Social Learning Theory, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1977.
5.
BellD., ‘The Theory of Mass Society’, Commentary, July: 77–78, 1956.
6.
BlumlerJ., ‘The Role of Theory in Uses and Gratification Studies’, Communication Research, 6:9–36, 1978.
7.
BrantlingerP., Bread and Circuses — Theories of Mass Culture as Social Decay, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1983.
8.
Buerkel-RothfussN.MayesS., ‘Soap Opera Viewing: The Cultivation Effect’, Journal of Communication, 31:108–115, 1981.
9.
CantorM.G.PingreeS., The Soap Opera, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA, 1983.
10.
CassataM.B.SkillT.D.BoaduS.O., ‘In Sickness and in Health’, Journal of Communication, 29:73–80, 1979.
11.
ChesebroJ.W.HamsherC.D., ‘Communication, Values and Popular Television Series’ in NewcombH., ed, op cit, 6–25.
12.
CompesiR., ‘Gratifications of Daytime TV Serial Viewers’, Journalism Quarterly, 57:155–158, 1980.
13.
ConnellR.W., Ruling Class, Ruling Culture, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1977.
14.
CordellM., ‘The write-out: A dozen deaths on the soapie set’, Sydney Morning Herald, 11/9/84.
15.
De FleurM., ‘Occupational Roles as portrayed on Television’, Public Opinion Quarterly, 28:57–74, 1964.
16.
De MuthP.BartonE., ‘Soap Gets in Your Mind’, Psychology Today, 16:74–78, 1982.
17.
DowningM., ‘Heroine of the Daytime Serials’, Journal of Communication, 24:130–137, 1974.
18.
EdmondsonM.RoundsD., From Mary Noble to Mary Hartman — The Complete Soap Opera Book, Stein and Day, New York, 1976.
19.
FineM.G., ‘Soap Opera Conversations: The Talk That Binds’, Journal of Communication, 31:97–107, 1981.
20.
FiskeJ., Reading Television, Methuen and Company, London, 1978.
21.
GansH.J., The Urban Villagers, The Free Press, New York, 1962.
22.
GansH.J., Popular Culture and High Culture — An Analysis and Evaluation of Taste, Basic Books Inc, New York, 1974.
23.
GarlingtonW.K., ‘Drinking on Television; a Preliminary Study with Emphasis on Method’, Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 38:2199–2205, 1977.
24.
GerbnerG.GrossL., ‘The Scary World of TV’, Psychology Today, 9:41–45, 1976.
25.
GreenbergB.S.AbelmanR.NeuendorfK., ‘Sex on the Soap Opera: Afternoon Delight’, Journal of Communication, 31:83–89, 1981.
26.
GreenbergB.S., ed, Life on Television — Content Analyses of US TV Drama, Ablex, Norwood, NJ, 1980.
27.
GreenbergB.S.GraefD.Fernandez-ColladoC.KorzennyF.AtkinC., ‘Sexual Intimacy on Commercial Television during Prime-Time’ in GreenbergB.S., ed, ibid, 129–137.
28.
GreenbergB.S.NeuendorfK.Buerkel-RothfussN.HendersonL., ‘What's on the soaps and who cares?’, Journal of Broadcasting, 26:519–536, 1982.
29.
HarrisM.B.VoorheesS.D., ‘Sex-Role Stereotypes and Televised Models of Emotion’, Psychological Reports, 48:826, 1981.
30.
HendersonL.GreenbergB.S.AtkinC., ‘Sex Differences in giving orders, making plans and needing support on television’, in GreenbergB.S., ed, op cit.
31.
HoweI., ‘Notes on Mass Culture’ in RosenbergB.WhiteD.M., Mass Culture — the Popular Arts in America, The Free Press, New York, 496–503, 1957.
32.
KinzerN.S., ‘Soapy Sin in the Afternoon’, Psychology Today, August:46–48, 1973.
33.
LippmannW., ‘Stereotypes’ in JanowitzM.HirschP., eds, Reader in Public Opinion and Mass Communication, The Free Press, New York, 1981.
34.
LoflandL.H., A World of Strangers, Basic Books, New York, 1973.
35.
LopateC., ‘Daytime Television: You'll Never Want to Leave Home’, Feminist Studies, 3:69–82, 1976.
36.
LowryD.T.LoveG.KirbyM., ‘Sex on the Soap Operas: Patterns of Intimacy’, Journal of Communication, 31:90–96, 1981.
37.
McAdowR., ‘Experience of Soap Opera’, Journal of Popular Culture, 7:955–965, 1974.
38.
McCrayC., ‘Kaptain Kronkite: The Myth of the Eternal Frame’ in NewcombeH., ed, op cit, 153–167.
39.
McLuhanM., Understanding Media — The Extensions of Man, first published by McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1964. The edition quoted (paperback) is Mentor. The New American Library. Inc, New York, 1964.
40.
AndersonMcNair, Ratings for Canberra television during September, 1984.
41.
McQueenH., Australia's Media Monopolies, Widescope International Publishers, Camberwell, 1977.
42.
MaherJ., ‘TV; A cracked mirror on the real world’, Sydney Morning Herald, 26/9/84:4.
43.
MilibandR., The State in Capitalist Society, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1973.
44.
ModleskiT., ‘The Search for Tomorrow in Today's Soap Operas’, Film Quarterly, 33:15–18, 1979.
45.
NewcombH., ed, Television: The Critical View, Oxford University Press, New York, 1976.
46.
RamsdellM.L., ‘The Trauma of TV's Troubled Soap Families’, Family Co-ordinator, July: 299–304, 1973.
47.
SingerA., ‘Television: Window on Culture or Reflection in the Class?’ in NewcombH., ed, op cit, 124–135.
48.
SlaterP., The Pursuit of Loneliness: American Culture at the Breaking Point, Beacon, Boston, 1976.
49.
SmytheD., ‘Three Years of New York Television’, National Association of Educational Broadcasters, Monitoring Study 6, Urbana, Il, 1953.
50.
SohnD., ‘A Nation of Videots — David Sohn interviews Jerzy Kosinski’ in NewcombH., ed, op cit, 137–152.
51.
StedmanR.W., The Serials: Suspense and Drama by Installments, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1977.
52.
StewartD., ‘Families on Television; A Content Analysis’, Australian Journal of Social Issues, 19:3–25, 1984.
53.
SutherlandJ.C.SiniawskyS.J., ‘The Treatment and Resolution of Moral Violations on Soap Operas’, Journal of Communication, 32:67–84, 1982.
54.
TabakoffJ., ‘Daytime is the dead zone on telly’, Sydney Morning Herald, 5/9/84:13.
55.
TurowJ., ‘Advising and Ordering: Day Time, Prime Time’, Journal of Communication, 24:138–141, 1974.
56.
WanderP., ‘The Angst of the Upper Class’, Journal of Communication, 29:85–88, 1979.
