TV shows like 'Scandal' and 'Madam Secretary' may spur people to become more politically engaged
MARKETWATCH 7:46 AM ET 3/22/2019
A new study links regular viewing of the female-led political TV dramas with heightened political interest and participation
Kerry Washington, Julianna Margulies and Téa Leoni may inspire more than just the occasional binge-watch.
A new study links regular viewing of the female-led political TV dramas like "Scandal" on ABC (DIS), "The Good Wife" on CBS (CBS) and "Madam Secretary" on CBS with heightened political interest and participation.
"People who viewed these shows more felt more engaged [with] the shows themselves; they felt more connected to the characters," lead study author Jennifer Hoewe, an assistant professor of political communication at Purdue University, told MarketWatch. "Through that process, they became more engaged in politics."
The small study involved 218 participants, 71% of whom were women and 81% of whom were white, recruited from sub- Reddit pages and fan forums that focused on the three shows. People who regularly watched these dramas featuring politically powerful women reported increased feelings of "transportation" (getting caught up in the narrative), which in turn led to more feelings related to "para-social relationships" (feeling a connection to a character).
Those relationships, according to the findings published this week in the peer-reviewed Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08838151.2019.1570782?journalCode=hbem20), led to increases in real-life political interest (they closely followed news about government and public affairs and elections) and political self-efficacy (the extent to which they felt like they can make a difference by participating in the election process).
And political interest then translated into actual political participation, including attending a political meeting, speech or rally; circulating a candidate or issue petition; and reaching out to a political party or public official.
"These results should encourage the creation of more politically-driven entertainment content featuring women in lead roles given its ability to not only entertain, but also encourage increases in political interest, self-efficacy, and participation among viewers," wrote Hoewe and her co-author, University of Alabama Ph.D candidate Lindsey Sherrill.
The authors also acknowledged that study respondents didn't vary widely among demographic lines, noting that "future research should attempt to expand the reach of these results by including a more representative sample"; the number of male survey respondents was also relatively low. Hoewe and Sherrill added that taking into account less-traditional forms of political participation, like online activity, could "add greater depth."
Some 67% of people report having engaged in politics either by volunteering for or donating to campaigns, attending protests or meetings, contacting officials or expressing their views on social media in the past five years, Pew said. Almost half (46%) said they have done so in the past year alone.
However, women still occupy less than one-quarter of all seats in Congress (https://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/current- numbers), despite making up 50% of the U.S. population and a record number of women running for Congress and winning seats in 2018. Women comprise just 127 out of 535 seats in Congress. Only 9 or 18% of the 50 U.S. Governors are women.
The Center for American Women and Politics, a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers-New Brunswick, highlighted several key milestones that have galvanized women in recent years, which kicked off with Hillary Clinton's unsuccessful run for the White House in 2016. She won the popular vote, but lost to Donald Trump in the electoral college.
"Two months later, one day after the presidential inauguration, the Women's March becomes the largest protest event in American history," it said. "In October 2017, the #MeToo movement, begun more than a decade earlier, breaks through and changes the conversation around sexual harassment and abuse."
Representatives from ABC, which aired "Scandal" from 2012 to 2018, and CBS, which aired "The Good Wife" from 2009 to 2016 and currently airs "Madam Secretary," did not reply to requests for comment.
The phenomenon of TV inspiring real-life activism may occur because "these shows are unique, and they're showing women in non-stereotypical roles," Hoewe said.
After all, male TV characters across platforms are twice as likely as women to be portrayed as leaders, according to a September report (https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/2017-18_boxed_in_report-wm.pdf) by San Diego State University'sCenter for the Study of Women in Television and Film. Females on TV are more likely than males (48% to 34%) to play "personal life-oriented roles" like mom or wife. In contrast, 58% of males and 42% of females play "work- oriented roles," like attorney or executive.
"These shows are a little bit different in that they're allowing women to be political leaders, and so that gives viewers a new way to consider how politics can work -- and also possibly see themselves in the characters," Hoewe said.
Next, Hoewe wants to test the potential impact of watching male-led political dramas.
Though she and Sherrill didn't study this particular outcome, Hoewe speculated that these female-driven political shows could encourage women to run for office. "If we see people who look like us portrayed on television, even fictional television, in roles that maybe we aspire to be, it looks and it seems more attainable when we see those portrayals," she said.
RELATED: As ABC's 'Scandal' ends, the bitter reality for women-owned businesses continues (http://www.marketwatch.com/ story/as-abcs-scandal-comes-to-an-end-the-bitter-reality-for-women-owned-businesses-continues-2018-04-19)
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
