Cultural Artifact free essay sample

Marisol Ruiz Ruben Casas English 1 The Great Television A cultural artifact can be an element that defines a culture. During the twenty and twenty-first century forms of communication were changed and/or created. In America the introduction of television had an impact in Family life, politics, and gender roles in todays society. The television was first introduced in America in the late 1940s. As it was introduced Americans purchased televisions as a record rate, in fact more quickly then they had purchased any other home entertainment machine. In a book written by Lynn Spigle stated Between 1948 and 1955, television was installed in nearly two-thirds of the nations homes and the basic mechanism of the network oligopoly was set n motion (pg. 1) and by 1960 almost 90 percent of American household had at least one receiver(pg. 1) As television became a new sort of gathering place it had positive and negative effect in families. We will write a custom essay sample on Cultural Artifact or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page One of the positive effects is that the television in many ways made the poorest of families rich in term of their access to entertainment and news. TV has also made childbearing less burdensome since TV can be a great babysitter and time filler. On the other as wealth of a person increases, so does the number of television found in a house making it hard for a family to interact with each other since each member would Just retreat to their own personal space making this a negative effect. Television plays a big role in politics. In the 1960 presidential debate between republican vice president Richard Nixon and democratic senator John F Kennedy were the firsts to be in television. This way people would not only have to hear the candidates answers and speeches but they would also be able to have an image of what was going on during the debate. A survey of those who listened to the debate on radio indicate that Nixon had won; however, those who watched on television, and were able to contrast Nixons poorly shaven face with Kennedys poise and grace, were more likely to think that Kennedy had won the debate (Stephens). Three years later, news coverage of Kennedys assassination would captivate the country, becoming one of he first major tragedies covered by network news. Television was a powerful tool that contributed to the increase of power in politics, by making the president more visible it was easier for people to integrate him in their everyday life. Because television was gaining popularity it was a better way for Americans to be informed of whats going on around them. Television contributed in the change of peoples belief depending on the advertisement that was transmitted for campaign and influenced Americans to choose a certain political party. There are many factors that contributed to the definition of gender roles in the American culture, and television was one of them. The people presented in television impacted Americans, seeing how popular the people on the television are; Americans began to imitate them and their personalities as their own. People gave meaning to behaving in a certain way as good and the more the people can understand and accept behavior, the easier is to