TV leads to dissing ?

April 20, 2011 7:03 PM

"Television will lead to people disrespecting authority figures" ... what is this article/paper/book which I saw quoted recently ?

A couple of weeks I saw a quote from something written, I think, in the 1950's or 1960's.

The bit I remember was the premise that widespread adoption of Television would lead people to have less respect for authority figures than they had previously.

Although this sound a bit "those kids" I believe the author was a respected (or at least well known) sociologist / anthropologist.

I think the article / book / paper might be very well known in the field in which the author operated. I also think that the bit I'm describing is just a small part of a much larger thesis.

For what it's worth the author was, I think, a man with a french/italian sounding name.

posted by southof40 to Society & Culture (2 answers total)

Could it be No Sense of Place by Joshua Meyrowitz? published in '85, but is a pretty important work in communications studies. The section I'm thinking of theorises that TV allows people into the "backstage" areas of a political figure's life and thus destroys a bit of the fearless leader myth - e.g. very few people got to see Abe Lincoln eat, sleep, run his fingers through his hair, or close his eyes momentarily in exhaustion - just ordinary, human things that we get to see politicians nowadays do on camera.
posted by Xianny at 9:05 PM on April 20, 2011

@Xianny. Thanks for your answer. Although I haven't been able to find the original quotation I think your suggestion is correct and my ideas about date etc a bit off. Thanks again for replying.
posted by southof40 at 3:20 PM on April 23, 2011