In US, most of our evenings were spent either watching games or watching TBS — Seinfeld, Everybody loves Raymond, and such other sitcoms. After coming to India, I have noticed that there are no sitcoms of a similar nature that are broadcast here for us to watch — at least, not that I am aware of, or that any of my hosts watch. So, we end up watching programmes like Anandam, Kolangal, Madurai and the like.
Between 1960 and 2000, Brazil’s fertility rate plummeted from 6.3 to 2.3. The only other country with a comparable decline during that period was China, under its rigid one-child policy. But what was behind the Brazilian fertility plunge?
One major factor may have been the influence of soap operas, according to a fascinating new working paper by Eliana La Ferrara, Alberto Chong, and Suzanne Duryea, issued by the Bureau of Economic Analysis for Development. Brazil’s most popular prime-time soaps have for years revolved around small and stable middle-class families that were much smaller than the traditional Brazilian family. The study found that wherever the soaps aired, the fertility for women dropped significantly, as they adapted to the reality they saw on television.
Imported soap operas, meanwhile, seem to have had no effect on fertility rates.
That brings me to the following question: if home grown soap operas can indeed have such a strong influence on people, are programmes like Madurai which seem to promote consanguinous marriages healthy?
Tags: sitcoms, soap operas, television
