The Cultivation theory was created by George Garbner, Dean of the Annenberg School of Communications at UPENN in the mid to late 1960’s. This theory began as the “Cultural Indicators Research Project”, and studied whether or not, watching television has an influence on viewers’ ideas of what everyday life is like in the world. He was also the founder of the “mean world syndrome”, which explains that people who are heavy viewers of television are more likely to view the world as a dangerous and fearful place.
Gerbner feels that mass media develops attitudes and values that are already modern in a culture. His research focused on mass media as an enriching agent that investigates whether the more a person watches television, the more it becomes …show more content…
His death created a minimum of two weeks of looting, and violence between residents of the city and police officers. More than 90% of the residents of Ferguson are black, and surprisingly, the majority of the police officers are white. This case was covered by many major news, and online outlets. All discussing the issue of race and whether or not the police officer was justified in shooting the young man.
Through television and other social media outlets, many protesters were able to conjugate, strategize, and execute protests within their respective cities. These protests helped give people a voice on a larger scale, while also creating a more intense fear of police in inner cities around the country. An already thin trust factor was damaged, and many minorities were faced with the dilemma of, “How can I call the people that swore to protect me, if they are going to turn around and hurt …show more content…
Heavy for those that watch television daily and light viewing as a result of watching television only a few times a week. He believed heavy watchers and individuals that had little knowledge of what they were watching, were likely to be more influenced by television programs. Light watchers relied more on detailed and actual sources of information than heavy watchers.
He also believed in what he called the 3 B’s of television; Blurring (traditional distinctions are blurred), Blending (“Reality” is blended into a cultural mainstream), and Bending (The mainstream reality benefits the elite). In this case only two of his B’s pertain to my question, in which they are blurring and blending. Because of all the news coverage, many educated people can see real downfalls and plights in the inner city community. As a result of looking at things from both perspectives, many individuals equally agreed that there is/was a glaring issue between inner city communities and police