A Sociological Analysis of Cultural Imperialism of International Media on Pakistani Youth

Abstract

The research was conducted an analysis of cultural imperialism because if the national media of any country absorbs the change from the international channels then the viewers are ready to adopt those changes. Different channels are driving away our cultural boundaries, shaping the perceptions and dreams of ordinary citizens, affecting our language, influencing traditional values and ways of thinking for a long time. In every society it is the natural phenomenon that the true representative of its culture is said to be always the educated class and youth which firstly brings any change and then pervades it in to the society. The objectives of the study were to examine the people perception about International media that to what extent they are changing our cultural patterns and to find out the respondents’ views about media influence on our identity. For this purpose descriptive approach was used. Population of the study consists of 150 students of University of Sargodha and Bahauddin Zakariya University. The questionnaire was used as research tool and had sixty five close ended questions. The results indicate that International media strongly influence youngsters in negative direction. It is found that these channels has vital role in replacing Pakistani culture with other cultures and changing life style, language and other aspects of Pakistani people. The results of the study showed that youngsters frequently watched international channels and frequent exposure to these channels plays a significant role in shaping their life style and identity. It was concluded that television channels with positive social values should be emphasized while the negative social values should be de-emphasized. It has been noted that in most of the programs that youngsters watch negative values are mostly portrayed while the positive values are at the background. At International media they watch use of alcohol, cigarettes and love affairs etc in their serials which negatively influence their lifestyle and identity. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n3p523