ABSTRACT
Television has been seen as one medium among many rather than as the mainstream of the cultural environment in which most children grow up and learn. Violence on television is an integral part of a system of global marketing. It dominates an increasing share of the world's screens despite its relative lack of popularity in any country. On the whole, prime-time television presents a relatively small set of common themes, and violence pervades most of them. Casting and fate in the world of television drama fit the violence scenario. The systematic patterns observed in television content provide the basis for formulating questions about people's conceptions of social reality. Data from numerous large national probability surveys indicate that long-term regular exposure to television tends to make an independent contribution to the feeling of living in a mean and gloomy world.
