A Study of Changes in Socio-Political, Psychological and Cultural Aspects of Tribal towards Acceptance of Modernization Methods and Tools

Abstract

The emergence of digital and social media platforms and latest technologies and tools have transformed the media landscape and media consumption patterns but television still holds sway among the media consumers. The invention of advanced technologies including DTH and digital enabled services helped the television to surpass typical geographic boundaries but still the receptivity of content of television among the viewers varies significantly. The television is not only omnipresent medium but an agent of modernization. However, the discourse of modernization disseminated by television, in terms of psychic mobility in all spheres of life of public came with some cognitive dissonance as discussed by several media scholars. The present paper intends to explore the impact of television and television viewing of the tribal community of Lahaul and Spiti of Himachal Pradesh. The study also explores the changes brought by television in terms of a modernizing agent among tribals, bring changes in socio-political, psychological and cultural aspects. A questionnaire was administered among the sample population, selected by using the purposive sampling technique of data collection from the villages of Lahaul and Spiti. The analysis of the gathered data is done by using Chi-square and cross tabulation analysis techniques.