Impact of Mass Media on Diffusion of Culture:

Introduction: Diffusion describes the spread of cultural trait from the point of origin throughout an area and into the neighbouring regions or to the neighbouring societies.

We have noted in lesson - 1 that the items of culture include food habits, dress, religious beliefs, dance and language etc.

(i) The spread of habits of aeriated drinks [soft drinks]' having tea coffee, smoking certain brands of cigarettes, using certain brands of toilet soaps, detergents, hair oil, shampoo, tooth paste tooth brush and hair dye is decidedly due to the impact of television in recent times. For example - scenes of revelry displayed in small screen in commercial breaks have definitely added to the widespread intake of aeriated drinks of different brands [i.e. cocacola, pepsi, frooti etc] covering almost every walk of life. Idli and dosa, supposed to be a South Indian preparation of light food, have now become almost international, largely because of mass media Salwar - kameez, a woman's wear of Punjab and north-west India have spread to every nook and corner of the country.

(ii) During the middle of the last century, cinema played a very significant role in spreading a cult associated with the worship of 'Santoshi maa'. In the closing decades of the last century, the small screen played no less significant role in carrying messages of Ramayana and Mahabharata to almost every individual, irrespective of caste, religion, community, age and gender. Immense popularity of two dance forms viz Bharatnatyam and Odissi, beyond the centres of their origin, is definitely an impact firstly of the radio, then the large screen [cinema], and ultimately the television.

(iii) The spread of Hindi language in the length and breadth of the country is mainly due to Hindi cinema, particularly the songs associated with them which are regularly broadcast in the radio in certain specialized programmes like 'Vividh Bharati', and 'Binaca'.

(iv) Later television deeply influenced people of all categories. Today, we see that, even in our day-to-day activities, certain words of our mother tongue have been replaced by certain linguistic expressions of the television like 'break ke baad' [after the break]. Our children behave in the same way children on television behave vis-a-vis their parents. These are all cases of cultural diffusion, greatly affected and influenced by mass media.