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Abstract: Images of Black people and culture are generally negative or nonexistent in children's television programming. Past research suggests that such images can distort a child's self-image and damage his or her developing self-concept. Using content analysis, this paper examines the potential influence of two popular children's programs, Sesame Street and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, on the impressionable minds of Black children. It is argued that popular culture representations of Black people and culture in children's television programming have a potentially negative influence on Black children's developing self-concept.
Keywords: Black children, self-concept, children's television programming, Sesame Street, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
Since the appearance of television in U.S. homes in the late 1940s and early 1950s, most scholars agree that television has been instrumental in the socialization of children. In fact, this medium has been described as a source of "vicarious socialization" that competes with other socializing agents to provide role models and information that influence children's attitudes, beliefs, and behavior (Stroman, 1991). Comstock and Paik (1991) noted that more than 98 percent of all U.S. households contained at least one television set by 1990, and that by high school graduation, the average child will have spent more time watching television than doing any other waking activity, including being in school. Given these statistics, we can assume that television is one of the greatest influences on almost all the nation's children.
Research suggests that television's socializing effects may be even greater for Black children. Some Black children's weekly television viewing exceeds their parents' 40-hour workweek (Stroman, 1986). According to Anderson and Williams (1983), "Black families are often poor, less mobile, and less able to afford alternative forms of entertainment and baby-sitters, which are available to their White counterparts" and thus rely more heavily on television as a source of entertainment (p. 28). Other studies have also suggested that television is sometimes used by Black families as a baby-sitter, and is often relied upon by Black children as a source of information about the world (Surlin & Dominick, 1970). Television, then, has a potentially powerful influence on Black children's developing self-concept.
Whether Black characters are absent, or present but filling stereotypic roles, there has been increasing concern within the Black community with the social and psychological...