ABSTRACT
Television has been excoriated by its critics as the great leveler: destroying high culture, dulling authentic expressions of folk culture, and imposing a political and social/cultural conformity on the masses to which it communicates. In the United States, there are already several generations that may be termed "television generations"—that is, there are new members of society born into a world in which television is already a fixture, in which it is as much a part of everyday life as the wallpaper that surrounds them. The socialization process is profoundly affected by television even in those countries where it is relatively new. A policy of more vigorously acquainting the huge Soviet television audience with the lives and cultures of the country's many ethnic groups, though it may be a necessary beginning, is by no means sufficient. In both Azerbaidzhan and Armenia television has become a vital medium of communication.
