The impact of “roots” on a racially heterogeneous southern community: An exploratory study

"Roots: The Next Generation"-Who Watched and With What Effect?

“…And with what effect? 1 While others (Surlin, 1978;Hur, 1978;Hur and Robinson, 1978;Balon, 1978;Howard et al, 1978;Johnson, 1977) have examined these questions with respect to the original "Roots" series, the present study differs from this earlier research by employing a less equivocal pretest-posttest design and by investigating value and social support variables as well as attitudinal variables.…”

Beyond the satire: Selective exposure and selective perception in “In Living Color”

“…The vast majority perceived it to be educational (Johnson, 1977;Surlin, 1978), highly informative, and entertaining (Hur, 1978). However, although both white and Hispanic Americans perceived the series to be an accurate account of slavery, African Americans viewed it as less than accurate (Balon, 1978). Furthermore, both white and Hispanic Americans did not view their ancestors' adjustment to the United States as less onerous than the adjustment that African Americans' ancestors were forced to make (Hur 8c Robinson, 1978).…”

“…Studies on frequency of viewing indicate relationships between such variables as gender, age, and race and the number of episodes watched. Balon (1978) found that among adults, women viewed "Roots" less often than did men. Hur (1978) reported that more than 80% of Cleveland-area teenagers sampled watched at least one episode, but found that African American teenagers viewed it more frequently than did white teenagers.…”

“…Approaches .dealing with selective exposure and perception have been used in the past to examine the effects of such influential and controversial television programs as "Roots" and "All in the Family" (for examples, see Balon, 1978;Hur, 1978;Vidmar & Rokeach, 1974). "In Living Color," like "Roots" and "All in the Family," represents a unique concept with the potential for longterm impact upon television programming.…”

Sociology of Mass Communications

“…Recent research on the social impact of "Roots," a nationally.televised "docudrama" on slavery in America, has investigated the program's effects on the racial attitudes of both blacks and whites, as well as on their emotional responses to the events depicted (Hur & J. Robinson 1978;Howard, Rothbart & Sloan 1978;Hur 1978;Balon 1978;Surlin 1978).…”