The use of television in Brazil

Television consumption in Brazil has grown over the last two to three decades, and most residents in both urban and rural areas have access to it. Any of the programming and news are shown on television have an effect on the scale of families favored by Brazilians. Because of the way Brazilian televisions work, it is more likely that they will influence people's beliefs and culture.

Brazilian television has a major impact on how people perceive fertility. First, the television programs and soap operas help the people in acquiring the necessary knowledge which enables them to make informed decisions on the family sizes of their choices and also helps them in demand for the regulation of fertility in their country. Most of the advertisements in the Brazilian televisions usually feature the importance of small families rather than big families; this has really changed the fertility behavior as most families have a maximum of two children with other families having none.

Again most of the soap operas in the television usually use a family with few members in order to make the characters manageable. This has really changed the thinking of the people and ends up having in mind that small families are always rich and happy than bigger families with more children. The Brazilian television has therefore brought about small family preference to the people with a high concern for the opportunity costs of raising the children. The soap operas and also the television programs have increased the demand of the people on the fertility regulation more than the demand the people have for the children. This led to the demand by the women who had two or more children to limit their fertility.

According to the Durkheim’s functionalism if anything happens and ends up disrupting the way things are done in the society then the people in the society always adjust so as to fit in the changing society. The Durkheim’s functionalism explains this research of Brazilian television and fertility in that in the organic solidarity it states that when there are changes to things in the society such as communication, transportation or even the way people interact with others then there is the likelihood of changes in the social behavior of the people ("Emile Durkheim's Theories: Functionalism, Anomie, And Division Of Labor - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.Com"). This explains the fact that with the introduction of the Brazilian television which led to the exposure of the people to soap operas and programs showing different lifestyles led to changes in the preferences of the family sizes.

The television programs equipped the people with other information and hence led to changes in their social behaviors. The Durkheim’s functionalism states that in the traditional societies there were common rules which made the social norms strong and also the social behaviors were well controlled. This ensured that the social values were followed by everyone and nothing could change their beliefs as a society. This, however, is not the case in the modern society where there are no longer social norms and the social behaviors are never regulated therefore any change in the society leads to changes in the behaviors of the people. ("Emile Durkheim's Theories: Functionalism, Anomie, And Division Of Labor - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.Com").

Media really plays a big role in influencing the behavior of the people in our society. For example in the traditional societies children used to emulate the behaviors of the parents while growing up and ended up being disciplined and having the cultural values of the society. With the media in place, this has definitely changed and most of the children do not even follow their parent’s advice and do not have any knowledge of the cultural values. This is because by watching the television programs most children try as much as possible to copy the behaviors of the people they see in the programs and will try as much as possible to end up like them. This really affects their life as most of them will end up in illegal activities such as using drugs.

Also through the use of social media, many children are exposed to so many things at tender ages which affect their lifestyles. The social media platforms such as Facebook enable people to meet with others from different societies and hence this person usually has different behaviors. Most youths usually copy what they read about others in the media and forget about the values being taught by their parents. Due to the media youths no longer have any respect for their parents because they get different information from those platforms.

In conclusion, the Brazilian television is responsible for the changes which occurred concerning fertility. By watching the television programs people believed that by having a small family one could have a rich and happy family and therefore more demand for fertility regulations increased than the demand for children.

Works cited

"Emile Durkheim's Theories: Functionalism, Anomie And Division Of Labor - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.Com." Study.Com, 2017, http://study.com/academy/lesson/emile-durkheims-theories-functionalism-anomie-and-division-of-labor.html.