1
The transformation of community values brought about by exposure to foreign programming
remains a primary concern for media observers studying the expansion of transnational media.
1
Yet, the
notion of values central to this discussion continues to be an abstraction in most literature. Terms such as
beliefs, opinions, cultural or social values commonly appear in discussions around values. These are,
however, broad categories. Such investigations require narrowed definitions in the context of a specific
case. While the entry of foreign media may be salient for local communities, their economies at the least,
the more explicit implications are lost in broad discussions and conclusions. Tracing values in their social
and political context presents an essential starting point for furthering our understanding of global
expansion of commercial media. Communities often utilize local media institutions to express
themselves. How does the entry of foreign corporations and commercialization of domestic media change
this role and what sort of threat does this present for community values?
We initiate this inquiry by furthering our understanding of values and the role they play in a
social context. Clyde Kluckhohn offers a general definition for studying values in a socio-cultural
perspective. According to him a value is a “conception, explicit or implicit, distinctive of an individual or
a group, of the desirable which influences the selection from available modes, means, and ends of
action.”
2
A sociological dictionary’s definition of value offers a similar understanding of values. “A
cultural value is a shared idea about how something is ranked in terms of its relative social desirability,
worth, or goodness.”
3
A functioning definition for this study may be derived from these perspectives. Values are
concepts that offer a guide to social life in a community or to what is desirable by a community, a notion
that is commonly accepted or reached by a predominant consensus. Jurgen Habermas points to decisive
processes in which community values are internalized in individuals who have to “bind” themselves in
order to comply with the community norms. According to him, “what is required is a symmetrical
relationship between the moral authority of existing social orders and a corresponding self-control
anchored in personality systems.”
4
This internalization is an essential prerequisite for the transformation
of a notion into an influential value incorporated into community institutions.
1
See E. Herman and Robert W. McChesney (1997) The Global Media: The New Missionaries of Global
Capitalism, London, Cassell; H. Schiller (1991) “Not yet the Post-Imperial Era,” Critical Studies in Mass
Communication, Vol. 8., pp.13-28.
2
Clyde Kluckhohn in Talcott Parsons and Edward A. Shils (1967) Towards a General Theory of Action,
Cambridge, Harvard, p.395.
3
A. G. Johnsons (2000) The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology, 2nd edition, Mass.achussetts, Blackwell,
p.339.
4
Jurgen Habermas (1996) Between Facts and Norms, translated by William Rehg, Cambridge,
Massachusetts, MIT Press, p.67.
Convention