Research Proposal

Applicant’s Name:

Wu Peng
School of Journalism and Communication;
Room 828, Unit 4, 178th Beiyuan Road, Beijing 100080; P.R.China.

Tel. No. 0086 135-8197-2704 E-mail: propaganda_1968@hotmail.com

Proposed Topic/Title of Research:

American Soaps and the Shifts of Chinese Culture

Patterns in Intercultural Communication

Nov. 2007
CONTENTS

Introduction 2

Literature Review 4

Culture, Culture Values and Cultural Patterns 4

Dominant American Cultural Patterns and Dominant Chinese 6
Cultural Patterns
American Soap Operas and Dominant American Cultural Patterns 9
Intercultural communication and Cultural Imperialism 10

Methodology 14

Research Questions and Hypotheses 14

Test and Measures 20
Research Design and Sampling 24
Data Analysis 27
Test of Homogeneity in Solomon 4-group Design 27
Independent-sample T-test 27
Paired-sample T-test 28
Means Analysis with ANOVA Test 28
Reliability and Validity Analysis 29
Reliability Analysis 29
Validity Analysis 29
Unstructured Interview 29

References 30

Appendix 1 33
Appendix 2 38
Appendix 3 43
Appendix 4 48
 Introduction

American soap operas were quite a hit to Chinese audiences last year. Prison
Break, each episode of which was downloaded 2 million times every time it appeared
on Internet, is a convincing example. The prevalence of American soap operas might
indicate that a peer-to-peer (or "P2P") computer network will bring a significant
change in the consumption of entertainment products among Chinese net people.
In fact, the first media that introduces American soap operas to China was not
Internet but television. Band of Brothers, which is quite hot in the States, came to
China in 2003; however, the response was not as good as it expected. The 65-time
Emmy winner, Everybody Loves Raymond, was once on the screen of CCTV-8 (China
Central TV-Channel 8), but soon faced its mortality due to the low ratings; another
show, Desperate Housewives, still could not escape the same destiny. In the same year;
BTV (Beijing TV) imported the 24, which created astonishing high ratings in US;
nevertheless, the Chinese television audiences did not show as great zeal as those in
other parts of the world. (Cheng Yun, 2007) Though the American soap operas met
their Waterloo on television, they brought about a big upswing on Internet later.
Chinese net people hold an unprecedented enthusiasm for these soaps and such ardor
gradually heating up from last year and up to its peak when Prison Break closed its
first season.
Furthermore, the American soap fans in China are more and more getting used to
watch the operas simultaneously with their American counterparts. Take Prison Break
as an example again; every new episode is on at U.S. time 20:00 every Tuesday; when
is 8:00, Wednesday in Beijing. Then, 6 o’ clock in the afternoon, only 10 hours later;
the Chinese audiences could easily find the complete episode with Chinese subtitles
embedded in on Internet. Such quick moves attribute to the work of a mysterious net
organization: the Subtitles Group. (Chen S. & Liu Y., 2006)
Watching American soaps more and more evolves into a fashion among Chinese
young audiences and many people are aware of the mainstream American values
infesting in the soaps. Since such social values vary greatly from the Chinese ones;
thus I concern whether the challenges and impacts may deviate an individual from his
original value systems. I scheme out this research in purposes of confirming the above
concern and finding out further in which aspects of value system and to what extent
do American soaps function?
In fact, my concern is far from new; it has been firstly brought out in the studies
of cultural imperialism begun at thirties last century. In those studies, American soap
operas were considered as the vectors of the American cultural values, especially after
the soap Dallas made a big stir around the world in 1960s and 1970s. Some Latin and
European scientists took it as a cultural invasion and held strongly negative attitudes
toward such ways of cultural output. They discoursed in their studies that not only the
audiences’ original values, but their behaviors had already been altered; they
consequently appealed to the governments of other countries for a boycott of the

2
American cultural products. (Dorfman & Mattelart)
Like Dorfman and Mattelart, the above Latin and European scientists are mostly
cultural critics and they conduct their research primarily by analyzing discourses and
contents of media programming in developing countries; therefore, their judgments
and predictions are lacking in the empirical basis.
Unlike those cultural critics, some psychologists in the 1970s doubted the
overwhelming effects of outputting cultural products; they are Ang, Liebes, Katz and
Tomlison. They claimed that the previous studies of cultural imperialism exaggerated
the impact. In their studies, the audiences of the input countries were not as vulnerable
as they thought; and more often than not, they preferred to interpret the dramas and
soaps in their own ways.
However, their research methods still do not favor empirical measurements and
statistical analysis but the unstructured interviews. Livingston A. White remarks the
approaches of Liebes and Katz’s study “cross cultural reception analyses, primarily
based on in-depth interviews and discourse analyses, emphasizing the importance of
context, a multi-faceted condition that influences how viewers react to and derive
meaning from television program messages. (White, 2001)
Up to now, the quantitative methods in the study of cultural imperialism is rare,
but some cross-cultural effects researchers like Hilary Brown are a limited number of
exceptions. Hilary’s study (1995) “American media impact on Jamaican youth” is
“stressing external validity through the use of large random samples, rather than a
‘thick description’ of the phenomenon under study.” (White, 2001)
Therefore, comparably speaking, statistical methods are not quite commonly
adopted in intercultural studies; the empirical methods like value tests and attitude
surveys are still standing far away from the field.
On the other hand, the measurement of values has already been put into practice
by many researchers; such as Rokeach, who is thought to be the earliest; Kluckhohn
and Strodtbeck, whose value scales were considered to be having high reliability and
validity; and so on. Hofstede, a psychologist from Netherlands, later in 1980
conducted his classic study about the variations of values in 50 countries; and Michael
Harris Bond, a professor from Hong Kong University, supplemented Hofstede’s study
by adding the orientation of Confucian dynamism, which eliminates the previous
western bias, to the study. My study adopts the frame which was created by Hofstede
and complemented by Bond.
In summary, the previous studies of intercultural communication lack of
adopting the quantitative methods; and researchers measuring cultural values seldom
step in the field of intercultural communication study. Combing with the above two,
my study tries to find out how and to what extent does the American soaps affect
people’s cultural patterns with a method of measuring people’s values. What is more,
either media scholars or psychologists, who cast their concentrations on cultural
imperialism, confine their spectrums to traditional medium, such as newspaper and

3
television; whereas, the new media, Internet, is overlooked by most of the researchers.
This study brings a new spectrum that, the effects of cultural products transmitted via
Internet on the audiences, to the study of intercultural communication.

Literature Review

Ⅰ Culture, Culture Values & Cultural Patterns

There are different views and focuses on the understanding of term “culture”.
“As early as 1952, Kroeber & Kluckhohn (1952) listed 164 definitions of ‘culture’
that they found in the anthropology literature” and “each of these definitions
highlights different aspects of culture, and many of the definitions even conflict with
each other.” (Hall B., 2005, p.3) What we are concerning in this study is the
communication among different cultural groups; hence, we more concentrate on the
definitions of “culture” with the interactions between culture and communication.
Hall E. (1977, p.14) once suggested that “Culture is communication and
communication is culture”, which means people acquire information through
communication and such information inevitably contain one’s beliefs, understandings,
opinions and thinking. In Marsella’s (1994) view, “Culture is shared learned behavior
which is transmitted from one generation to another for purposes of promoting
individual and social survival, adaptation, and growth and development. Culture has
both external (e.g., artifacts, roles, institutions) and internal representations (e.g.,
values, attitudes, beliefs, cognitive/affective/sensory styles, consciousness patterns
and epistemologies).” According to the above definitions, we can clearly conclude
that one’s cultural identity, which is obtained through communicating with different
people, closely relates to the circumstances he lives in and it will affect one’s view of
nature and society.
In spite of the various definitions of culture, most people reach a consensus on
the functions of culture. “The influence of culture becomes habitual and subconscious
and makes life easier” (Shapiro, 1965, p.21) Triandis (2000) notes that culture
“functions to improve the adaptation of members of the culture to a particular ecology,
and it includes the knowledge that people need to have in order to function effectively
in their social environment.”
Referring to Marsella’s definition of culture, there are varieties of culture’s
internal representations, but the values is the fundamental part. “Values are shared
ideas about what is true, right, and beautiful that underlines cultural patterns and
guide society in response to the physical and social environment.” (Nanda & Warms,
1998, p.3) Albert (1968) also highlights the significance of values when he notes that
“a value system represents what is expected or hoped for, required or forbidden. It is
not a report of actual conduct but is the system of criteria by which conduct is judged
and sanctions applied.”
Each individual has a set of their own values; some of the values are pervasive in

4
the whole society and they are called as “culture values”. “Values generally are
normative and evaluative in that they inform a member of a culture what is good and
bad, and right and wrong. Culture values define what is worthwhile to die for, what is
worth protecting, what frightens people, and what are proper subjects to study and
what deserve ridicule.” (Samovar & Porter, 2004, p.49)
Indisputably, every person in the society is heterogeneous, thus some of their
values are unique. “The value of the culture may not be the value of all individuals
within the culture.” (Samovar & Porter, 2004, p.50) However, we can not deny that
most of the members within a certain culture still share some kinds of values together,
and these values more often than not are the mainstream values, rather than the fringe
and non-mainstream ones, of the society. In terms of this study, what we are focusing
on is undoubtedly the dominant cultural values of a country.
Samovar & Porter (2004, p.50) once defined cultural patterns as “a system of
beliefs and values that work in combination to provide a coherent, if not always
consistent, model for perceiving the world.” Similarly, even in the same culture
system, different people have their unique cultural patterns. Hence, “common cultural
patterns that could be said to hold for the whole country must be limited to the
dominant culture in each country.” (Samovar & Porter, 2004, p.51)
Cultural patterns are changing, even though the deep structure of a culture resists
such changes. “Cultures change and therefore so do the values of the culture.”
(Samovar & Porter, 2004, p.51) Samovar & Porter (2004, p.51) take “women’s
movement” as an example; American citizens were beginning to touch the notion of
women’s rights during the last twenty years in nineteenth century, and such notions
has greatly altered social organizations and some value systems in the United States.
Even the dominant culture values in American society gained some obvious
variations.
Not only within a culture system does a cultural pattern change, it may also
change when it considerably encounters and influences by another culture pattern.
“People put a great deal of time and effort into becoming well-socialized members of
their own culture. They develop a worldview that makes sense to them. When they
discover that members of other cultures have a different view, some of their
fundamental assumptions about life are challenged.” (Brislin, 1999, p.37)
On the grounds of the previous theories; influenced by new culture values, the
stereotyped one will more or less developed some changes thereby. Moreover, the
greater the old and the new value systems vary, the easier such changes may occur.
Since the Chinese and American culture values are poles asunder, thus we can assume
that one value system will be altered if it is perennially impacted by the other one.
As Brislin (1999, p.39-43) notes, the changes mentioned above may occur in
three perspectives, people’s thinking, emotions and behaviors. “The changes in
people’s thinking include the willingness to entertain more complex viewpoints, the
rejection of stereotypes, and the ability to understand problematic encounters in a

5
manner similar to individuals in other culture. When encountering difficulties in other
cultures they are unprepared for, they are willing to suspend their judgment and to
await further information” Compared with the changes in thinking and emotions,
which are often invisible to observers; the changes in behaviors are visible. People are
at “greater ease when interacting with culturally diverse others.” (Brislin, 1999, p.44)

Ⅱ Dominant American Cultural Patterns and Dominant Chinese Cultural

Patterns
We can not clarify all the cultural patterns in a certain cultural system due to the
complexity and diversity of themselves; thus, researchers can only contrast the
dominant cultural patterns in a comparative study. Some of the researchers use the
classification as their method to categorize the similar cultural patterns in different
culture systems and make them the research targets.
Samovar & Porter (2004, p.58) summarize the current classifications in the
research field: “The first classification, developed by Hofstede, identifies five value
dimensions (individualism & collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance,
masculinity & femininity, long-term orientation & short-term orientation) that are
influenced and modified by culture. The second four orientations grow out of
anthropological work of Kluckhohns and Strodtbeck (human nature, time, activity,
social orientation). Hall advanced our third taxonomy, which looks at how
high-context and low-context cultures response to various message systems. Our final
classification discusses some cultural patterns that we deem to be important, but that
are not directly included in the other taxonomies.”
Hofstede is the one of the earliest scholars who used statistical methods to study
cultural values. In 1980, he surveyed nearly 100, 000 employees and established a
huge database, which compiled paper-and-pencil survey results collected within
subsidiaries of one large multinational business organization (IBM) in 53 countries and
covering, among others, many questions about values. In his study, Hofstede (2001, p.
ⅹⅸ) “identified five main dimensions (individualism & collectivism, uncertainty
avoidance, power distance, masculinity & femininity, long-term orientation &
short-term orientation) along with dominant value systems in the more than 50 countries
can be ordered and that affect human thinking, feeling, and acting, as well as
organizations and institutions, in predictable ways.”
Individualism is the most important value pattern in American society. “Many
Americans see the individualism in their culture as a major reason for the greatness of
the United States.” (Hofstede, 2001, p.210) “Americans pride themselves ion being
fiercely individualistic. They want to be ‘their own person’. They are much more
concerned about their own careers and their personal success than about the welfare
of the organization or group. For Americans, it’s ‘every man for himself’.” (Hall T. &
Hall R., 1997, p.147)
Individualism not only dominates the whole culture system in the United States,

6
but also is the root of other culture values in the society. “Equality of opportunity,
independence, initiative, and self-reliance are some of the values that have remained
as basic American ideals throughout history. All of these values are expressive of a
high degree of individualism.” (Gannon, 2001, p.213)
On the contrary, the Chinese cultures favor collectivism. In speak of the
collective culture in China, Meyer (1994, p.54) notes: “with individual rights severely
subordinated, group action has been a distinctive characteristic of Chinese society”
Some anthropologists think “the Chinese tradition has no equivalent for the or the
western concept of ‘personality’: a separate entity distinct from society and culture.
The Chinese word for ‘man’ (ren) includes the person’s intimate societal and cultural
environment, which makes that person’s existence meaningful. Chinese tend to adapt
their views relatively easily to this environment.” (Hsu, 1971)
According to the Time Orientation values study of Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, the
Chinese and American cultures are distinct. China has an obvious Past Orientation
culture, which “believes strongly in the significance of prior events. History,
established religions, and tradition are extremely important to these cultures, so there
is a strong belief that the past should be the guide for making decisions and
determining truth.” (Samovar & Porter, 2004, p.72) While, by contrast, Americans
hold a typical Future Orientation culture, which “emphasizes the future and expect to
be grander than the present. What is going to happen holds the greatest attraction for
most Americans because whatever we are doing is not quite as good as what we could
be doing.” (Samovar & Porter, 2004, p.74) The power to control the future was clearly
spelled out by former president Lyndon Johnson when he told all Americans that:
“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or to lose.” (Samovar &
Porter, 2004, p.74)
The anthropologist Edward Hall offers us another effective means of examining
cultural similarities and differences in both perception and communication. He
categories cultures as being either high or low context. He defines “a high context
(HC) communication or message is one in which most of the information is already in
the person, while very little is in the coded, explicitly transmitted part of the message.
A low context (LC) communication is just the opposite; i.e., the mass of the
information is vested in the explicit code.” (Hall T. & Hall R., 1997, p.6)
Hall ranks all the countries he has studied in the diagram 2.7.
Americans prefer low context talk and “they depend more on spoken words than
on nonverbal behavior to convey messages. They think it is important to be able to
‘speak up’ and ‘say what is on their mind.’ They admire a person who has a
moderately large vocabulary and who can express herself clearly and shrewdly.”
(Althen, 1998, p.27) However, unlike Americans; Chinese communicate in a high
context. Hall points out in his study that China, next only to Japan, has the second
highest context culture around the world.

7
 In the studies of other values dimensions, researchers also find out that there are
clear distinctions between Chinese and American culture values. For instance, in the
study of “Assertiveness and Interpersonal Harmony”, researchers notice that
American culture is famous for its assertiveness and aggressive communications; “the
eloquent articulation of conviction is among the most valued virtues of American
citizens, and the arts of argument and debate encourage in the home, school, and
marketplace.” (Barnlund, 1989, p.157) Wenzhong & Grove (1990, p.23) intensify the
above perspective; “in a culture where individualism is as highly valued as it is in the
United States, people are expected to take the initiative in advancing their personal
interests and well-being and to be direct and assertive in interacting with others. High
social and geographic mobility and the comparatively superficial nature of many
personal attachments create a climate where inter-personal competition and a modest
level of abrasiveness are tolerated and even expected.”
Quite different from the American one, Chinese culture is a typical representation
of interpersonal harmony. The Chinese people “tend to regard conflict and
confrontation as unpleasant and undesirable.” (Gao & Ting-Tommey, 1998, p.61)
Moreover, “It is without a doubt that harmony is one of the primordial values of
Confucianism and of the Chinese value.” (Chen & Xiao, 1993) “According to
Confucianism, the ultimate goal of human behavior is to achieve ‘harmony’ which
leads Chinese people to pursue a conflict-free and group-oriented system of human
relationships.” (Chen, 1993)
In summary, the Chinese cultures are quite other than the American ones in the
dimensions of Hofstede, Kluckhohn, Strodtbeck, Hall and other researchers’ studies.
The American cultures admire individualism; care more about the future life; prefer
low context communication and tend to freely express disagreements and conflicts.
Just to be contrary, the Chinese cultures appreciate collectivism; more respect the past
life; prone to talk in high context and pursue the interpersonal harmony.

8
 Ⅲ American Soap Operas and Dominant American Cultural Patterns

Soap operas did not have a comparable long history, “American speech lists
‘soap opera’ among its ‘new words’ in 1942, but it appears in Newsweek as early as
1939……by 1939, ‘soap opera’ had been taken up in the general press as a generic
substitute for the less colorful and more cumbersome ‘daytime dramatic serial’…….
and the ‘soap’ in ‘soap opera’ derives from the sponsorship of daytime serials by
manufacturers of household cleaning products.” (Allen R., 1985, p.8)
There is no common definition of the soap opera shared across the world; based
on the Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary’s definition, soap opera is “a
serial drama performed originally on daytime radio or television program and chiefly
characterized by tangled interpersonal situations and melodramatic or sentimental
treatment.”
Currently in US, TV serials can be mainly classified into three categories, soap
operas or serial operas, sitcoms (situation comedies) and dramas; and furthermore,
dramas can continually be sub-categorized into crime drama, thriller drama, sci-fi
drama, medical drama and western drama. Before 1980s, soap operas were
broadcasted both in daytime and at night; however, the latter ones were gradually
replaced by dramas and sitcoms at the end the 1980s.
Rest on the above classification, Friends, Will and Grace, Growing Pains and
Sex and the City are typical sitcoms; Prison Break, Lost, and Grey’s anatomy, which
have dramatic conflicts and sentimental plots can be categorized into dramas; and
serials like Desperate Housewives are famous soap operas concerning with family
problems.
Usually, different types of TV serials take different broadcast times in the Sates,
soap operas and talk shows are always in the period of 10:00 to 16:00; while the
drams and the sitcoms inhabit in the primetime of a day, 20:00 to 23:00 in the evening.
(Qu & Zhu, 2995, p.139)
In this study, we are concerning with the TV serials transmitted via Internet, and
they turn out to be not only one certain type but a mix of several types. Hence, for
convenience; “American soap operas” in this study stands for all the American TV
serials that Chinese audiences acquire from Internet.
As to the question to what extent do these soap operas embody the mainstream
cultural values in American society; Fiske (1987, p.37) thinks that “Television is,
above all else, a popular cultural medium. The economics that determine its
production and distribution demand that it reaches a mass audience, and a mass
audience in western industrialized societies is composed of numerous subcultures, or
subaudiences, with a wide variety of social relations, a variety of sociocultural
experience and therefore a variety of discourses that they will being to bear upon the
program in order to understand and enjoy it. For its own purposes television attempts
to homogenize this variety so that the one program can reach as many different

9
audiences have in common.”
It implies in Fiske’s statement that the soap operas have to create a psychological
approach to the audiences in order to attract them; and a psychological approach is
established when the values and judgments a soap reflects parallel with the audiences’.
Since the majority of the audiences are common social members who share
mainstream values of the society; thus, the American soap operas are the
reproductions of dominant values of American cultures.
Some scholars inspect the problem from a text analysis angle. Barthes
categorizes text into two different types: readerly and writerly. “A readerly text is one
that approximates to what MacCabe calls a ‘classic realist text’, that is, one which
‘reads’ easily, does not foreground its own nature as discourse, and appears to
promote a singular meaning which is not that of the text, but of the real.” (Fiske, 1987,
p.94)
In that case, soap operas are a kind of readerly text which “attempts to conceal
all traces of itself as a factory within which a particular social reality is produced
through standard representations and dominant signifying practices.” (Silverman,
1983, p.244)
Not only reflect mainstream values of the society, the American soap operas will
change at the moment the dominant ideologies of the culture change. “Social change
does occur, ideological values do shift, and television is part of this movement….but
television can be, must be, part of that change, and its effectively will either hasten or
delay it.” (Fiske, 1987, p.45)
Feuer (1984) gives a good account of how MTM Enterprises in the l970s
produced sitcoms that picked up and developed cultural concerns with shifting
definitions of femininity, and produced shows like The Mary Tyler Moore Show,
Rhoda, and The Bob Newhart Show.
“The rise of Reaganism and the rehabilitation of the US experience in Vietnam
has modified the cop show and reasserted its popularity. Not only do many shows
have heroes who learned their ideologically validated skills in Vietnam (e.g., Magnum
pi, The 4-Team, Simon and Simon) but the narratives continually reenact the right of
those in control of ‘The Law’ to impose that law upon others.”

Ⅳ Intercultural communication and Cultural Imperialism

“Intercultural communication is the circumstance in which people from diverse

cultural background interacts with one another….Cultural diversity has the potential
to make intercultural communication very difficult–and in some instances utterly
impossible.” (Samovar & Porter, 2004, p.2)
“The origins of intercultural communication as a field of study are typically
traced to the work of Edward Hall.” (Leeds-Hurwitz, 1990) And his book The Silence
Language, which is “typically considered the first ‘intercultural communication’

10
book” (Hall B., 2005, p.19) was published in 1959. Hall worked for the government
and “his early work was primarily concerned with very practical applications
designed to help make a consumer of the research more successful in jobs that
required intercultural interaction.” (Hall B., 2005, p.19)
After Edward Hall, “two other major perspectives have developed within the
field of intercultural communication: interpretive and critical…..The interpretive
focus on understanding the other and the critical respective, which attends to subtle
forms of oppression in society.” (Hall B., 2005, p.19)
Altogether, traditional (practical), interpretive and critical are the three major
perspectives so far were found in the studies of intercultural communication. As to our
study, how does one culture pattern influence and change another one, it is parallel
with the main theories in the critical perspective.
“One of the most basic concepts within the critical perspective is the notion of
hegemony” (Lull, 2000) and the earliest study of hegemony dates back to “the Italian
intellectual Antonio Gramsci, who wrote about how ruling elites used the mass media
to perpetuate their power and their ways of viewing the world.” (Hall B., 2005, p.316)
As Lull J. pointed out “One of Gramsci’s major contributions in terms of our
understanding of hegemony was his observation that the dominant ideologies of those
in power came to be seen and accepted by the general public as simply the way the
world is.” (Lull, 2000)
Later, Edward Said (1993) published his book Culture and Imperialism, firstly
investigates the relationship between culture and the imperialism of the West. “Said
brilliantly illuminates how culture and politics cooperated, knowingly and
unknowingly, to produce a system of domination that involved more than cannon and
soldiers - a sovereignty that extended over forms, images, and the very imaginations
of both the dominators and the dominated.” (Puckrein, 1993)
Herbert Schiller, one of the best known writers on media imperialism, is the first
scholar who systematically explained the concept of “cultural imperialism” as “the
sum of the process by which a society is brought into the modern world system and
how its dominating stratum is attracted, pressured, forced, and sometimes bribed into
shaping social institutions to correspond to, or even promote, the values and structures
of the dominating center of the system.” (Schiller, 1976, p.9)
Up to the mid-terms of 1980s, Schiller’s theories have been greatly challenged
since more and more theorists are well aware that cultural domination does not
exactly like the economic domination. Moreover, the cultural resistance in fact is
almost simultaneous with the cultural hegemony. Plus, cultural imperialism is not
merely the problem of mass communication, but connecting with the problems of
modernity, ethnic identity, and consumerism. (Zhang Xian, 2006)
Tomlinson (1991, p.3), an English scholar, starts with discourse analysis and
critically defines “cultural imperialism” as “the use of political and economic power
to exalt and spread the values and habits of a foreign culture at the expense of a native

11
culture” in the eyes of a modernist. Speak of the influences of cultural imperialism to
cultural identity, he notes that: “in societies and at times in which habitual routine
governs most social experience-what we might call the ‘stable mode’ of capitalist
modernity-national identities tend to be at the background of consciousness and so the
routine reception of alien culture goods may proceed in the same manner and
according to the same needs as the consumption of any other cultural commodities.”
(Tomlinson, 1991, p.88) In another word words, “the general sense of cultural
belongings is replaced, in the ‘stable mode’ of capitalist modernity, by a
‘commodified’ habitual social experience in which all ‘identities’ become, effectively,
submerged.” (Tomlinson, 1991, p.88)
As to the question how does capitalist modernity impose an influence on the
original cultural identities, American scholars, as the representative of the output
country, have distinct angles and perspectives with the foreign scholars on behalf of
the input countries. Such divergence can be fully illustrated by the discussion of
“whether or not, American soap operas are outputting the influences of cultural
imperialism.” For the sake of answering the above question, both researchers conduct
a lot of studies which mainly focus on two soaps, Donald Duck and Dallas.
Dorfman and Mattelart come from Chile and their study on Donald Duck began
at 1970s, at the time this Disney comic swept the globe. The two authors accused
Disney's comics as a mass medium with the revolutionary power of the pen: as
American export sensations, the comic-books reached countless children all over the
world. “Dorfman and Mattelart aim to demonstrate the imperialism nature of the
values ‘concealed’ behind the innocent, wholesome façade of the world of Walt
Disney” (Tomlinson, 1991, p.41) they saw this as an insidious way of establishing
one's own world view. As Martin Baker (1989, p.24) summarizes Dorfman and
Mattelart’s argument: “American capitalism has to persuade the people it dominates
that the ‘American way of life’ is what they want and American superiority is natural
and in everyone’s best interest.”
Dorfman and Mattelart go on further suggest that people’s thoughts, even their
behaviors have changed attributing to the impact of American soaps. “When the
explanation comes, it is frankly disappointing: The housewives in the slums is incited
to buy the latest refrigerator or washing machine, the impoverished industrial worker
lives bombarded with images if the Fiat 125. Underdeveloped peoples take the comics
at second hand, as instruction in the way they are supposed to live and related to the
foreign power center.” (Dorfman & Mattelart, 1975, p.98)
Meanwhile, the European critics also supported Dorfman and Mattelart’s
findings. In their opinions, “Dallas was regarded as yet more evidence of the threat
posed by American-style commercial culture against 'authentic' national cultures and
identities.” (Ang, 1985, p.2) Tamar and Sonia mentioned in their research of the
European soaps “Dallas, the American prime-time soap, immensely popular in
Europe, became the symbol of what was then labeled ‘American cultural imperialism’
or ‘Americanization’, terms which may better be replaced by more neutral

12
‘globalization’ or even audiovisual ‘modernization’. ‘Europe fights back’ was spirited
slogan which called for the local production of European family series in order to
combat the threat if television capitulating to Americanization.”
However, active audience theorists, such as Tamar Liebes and Ien Ang,
afterwards have conducted research illustrating how domestic audiences respond to
Western media in an attempt to prove that cultural imperialism does not exist. “For we
must accept one thing: Dallas is popular because a lot of people somehow enjoy
watching it. On the other hand we should not make the opposite mistake and let
ourselves be blinded by the fabulous popularity of Dallas.” (Ang, 1985, p.4) Ang
(1985, p.115) goes on further finding that “Its influence will be mainly restricted to
people's opinions and rational consciousness, to the discourses people use when
talking about culture. These opinions and rationalizations need not, however,
necessarily prescribe people's cultural practices.”
Liebes studied the impact of the popular TV program "Dallas" in Israel and the
study included four groups of Israeli viewers: Israeli Arabs, Moroccan Jewish
immigrants, kibbutz members, and new Russian immigrants. “Liebes found that the
message imparted by "Dallas" depended on the viewer's values and varied according
to the experiences of the particular group to which the viewer belonged. The viewer,
therefore, actively produces meaning while consuming the media product or
program.” (White, 2001)
The study of Tamar Liebes and Elihu Katz enhances the questioned noises in the
academic field. According to Schiller (1989), the "New York Times" generously
devoted half a page to a discussion of Liebes work asserting that it "relates to a larger
debate about the so-called American cultural imperialism - the extent to which
American programs, art, culture, and other values are exported and overwhelm those
of foreign countries." (Schiller, 1989, p.149) They argue that audiences from different
ethics and races tend to bring their own peoples’ values in when they are judging the
soaps. Such ideas are also supported by Tomlinson (1991, p.49) “their (the viewers)
responses seems to be not just a rejection of Western decadence, but an actual
reinforcement of the audience’s own cultural values…extended from issues of
interpersonal and sexual morality to the programme’s celebration of wealth: ‘with all
that they have money, my lifestyle is higher than theirs.’ ”
Besides the above studies primarily concerning with the American soap operas,
researchers who are focusing on the impact of the media on culture have the same
divergence. Stephen Chaffee and Morgan are both the researchers who are interested
in what impact the media produced in the United Sates is having on people in other
countries, however, their findings are poles apart. One of Chaffee’s (1992) reports
suggests that “Chinese women who were exposed to media programming from the
United States developed more individualistic attitudes than those who only watched
media produced in China.”
On the contrary, Morgan & Shanahan (1992) in their studies found that
“Although media in general had an impact on various values in adolescents in

13
Argentina and Taiwan, exposure to media produced in the United States did not have
an impact on cultural values of either group.”

Methodology

Ⅰ Research Questions and Hypotheses

As to the question how and to what extent will American cultural products affect
the audiences’ values, it is still controversial. Cultural critics like Dorfman and
Mattelart insist that the American cultural products, especially the soap operas are
infested with American values and ways of thinking, and they will impact the original
cultural patterns of the audiences and may in turn bring the shifts of the values.
However, scholars like Ang, Liebes and Katz hold a doubt with the
overwhelming effects of these products, just as Tomlinson (1991, p.50) says: “ We
might conclude that this impact (imperialism text on the audience life and
interpersonal) has been seriously overstated in the polemics of writers like Schiller,
Dorfman and Mattelarts.”
Hence, there are three questions due to be solved by this study.
1: From the quantitative perspective, whether or not will the American soaps
bring the shifts of values to the audiences?
2: If there were shifts, in which dimensions and to what extent do these shifts
happen?
3: Given the shifts occur, do demographic characteristics play an important role
in the change?
The dimensions we choose combine the studies of Hofstede and Bond, the
reasons lie in the following three aspects: in the first place, Hofstede’s classification
of value dimensions is acknowledged to be the most sophisticated one. Secondly, in
terms of research methods, Hofstede and Bond adopt a more empirical one, value
survey. It is without a doubt that their surveys are more practical and objective,
comparing with discourse analysis or content analysis which is used by other scholars
like Edward Hall. In addition, Bond’s supplement of Confucian Dynamics makes the
research more neutral and balanced, since the testees of this study are Chinese
audiences, thus the adoption of Bond’s dimensions will make the research much
easier and more valid.
Before Bond, most of the values scales are partial to western orientation. For
example, Hofstede, in his survey uses the term “uncertainty avoidance”, which could
be easily understood under western context; whereas, as to Chinese people, they have
some difficulties in apprehending it. Then, Michael Harris Bond “found a creative
solution to the western bias problem. Bond asked a number of Chinese social
scientists from Hong Kong and Taiwan to prepare in Chinese a list of at least ten basic

14
values for Chinese people. Through the elimination of overlap and, on the other side,
adding some values that from his reading of Chinese philosophers and social scientists
seemed to be similarly important, he arrived at a questionnaire of forty items – the
same number as in the previously used RVS (Rokeach Values Survey).” (Hofstede G.
& Hofstede J., 2005, p.30)
There were only four dimensions in Hofstede’s initial study; the fifth dimension,
long-term orientation & short-term orientation, was not supplemented into the survey
until Bond created Chinese Value Survey. In 1980s, when Hofstede undertook his
research, China was not in his target list by reason that IBM did not have any
branches in China at that time. Therefore, Hofstede just surveyed the employees of
IBM in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Bond retrospect all the value studies before 1996 and drew out most of the
studies concerning with Chinese societies in order to summarize the similarities and
differences among Chinese societies in various countries. He finally found that the
cultural values of mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan resemble each other to a
large extent. (Bond T. A., 1996)
In 1994, Schwartz undertook another value survey, Schwartz Value Survey
(SVS), which involved more than 60000 individuals in 64 nations on all continents
and contained 57 items that represent 10 value types on an individual level and 7
value orientations on the cultural level. After analyzed Singapore samples, he noted
“the sample from Singapore shows a profile that is closest to the pure Hofstede
conception of collectivism, high in Conservatism and Hierarchy and low in Autonomy
and Mastery.” (Schwartz, 1994)
The above studies show that compared with western countries, most of the
Chinese societies have similar values in dimensions of power distance, collectivism
and hierarchy. Hence, we choose the below three dimensions to research:

ⅰLong-term orientation and Short-term orientation

Diagram 7.1 is the results of Hofstede’s study in this dimension.

For a long time, Hofstede’s value study is criticized by reason of eastern bias. He
later added a new dimension, long-term & short-term orientation, which was adopted
from the Chinese Value Survey (CVS) of Michael Harris Bond in order to fix that
problem. Chinese Value Survey are “involving 23 countries, used a form called
Chinese Value Survey. This was “an instrument developed by Michael Harris Bond in
Hong Kong from values suggested by Chinese Scholars.” This orientation is also
known as Confucian dynamism.” (Hofstede & Bond, 1988) Hofstede explained the
relationship between his new dimension and the Confucian theories, “ the Confucians
oppose short-term to long-term aspects of Confucian thinking: persistence and thrift
to personal stability and respect for tradition.” (Hofstede, 2001, p.351)

15
 The distinctions between long-term orientation and short-term orientation are
obvious, Hofstede’s study mainly focused on employees in the commercial
corporations, “For example, in business organizations, cultures that rank high on
long-term orientation (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea) would must
likely have employees who reflect a strong work ethic and show great respect to their
employers. Those cultures that rank low in the long-term orientation index (United
States, Great Brain, Canada, Philippines) often do not place a high priority on status,
try to postpone old age, are concerned with short-term results, and as such seek
immediate gratification of their needs.” (Hofstede, 2001, p.336-367)
The first hypothesis is proposed as:
Hypothesis 1: Compared with people who do not watch American soap operas,
the individual value systems of American soap opera audiences tend to shift to
short-term oriented.

ⅱIndividualism & Collectivism

Diagram 5.1 shows the results of Hofstede’s study in this dimension.

Over the years, researchers consider “self-orientation versus collective
orientation is one of the basic pattern variables that determine human action”
(Samovar & Porter, 2004, p.78) and “individualistic and collective value tendencies
are manifested in everyday family, school, and work place interactions.” (Ting-
Toomey, 1999, p.67)

16
 In society worships individualism, “people’s personal goals take priority over
their allegiance to groups like the family or the employer. The loyalty of individualists
to a given group is very weak; they feel they belong to many groups and are apt to
change their membership as it suits them, switching churches, for example, or leaving
one employer for another.” (Goleman, 1990) However, “In cultures that tend toward
toward individualism, competition rather than cooperation is encouraged; personal
goals take precedence over group goals; people tend not to be emotionally dependent
on organizations and institutions; and every individual has the right to his or her
private property, thoughts and opinions.” (Samovar & Porter, 2004, p.60)
Triandis (1990, p.52) contends “collectivism means greater emphasize on the
views, needs, and goals of in-group rather than oneself; social norms and duty defined
by the in-group rather than behavior to get pleasure; beliefs shared with the in-group
rather than beliefs that distinguish self from in-group; and great readiness to cooperate
with in-group members.” The characteristics of collectivism are summarized by
Samovar as “a rigid social framework that distinguishes between in-groups and
out-groups characterizes collectivism. People count on their in-group (relatives, clans,
organizations) to look after them, and in exchange for that they believe they owe
absolute loyalty to the group.” (Samovar & Porter, 2004, p.61)
According to Hofstede’s study, America has the most individualistic culture in
the world; while, people in Chinese societies have weak awareness of individualism.
Hong Kong and Taiwan respectively rank 37 and 44 in his list. (Hofstede, 2001,
p.215)
Hence, the second hypothesis is suggested as:
Hypothesis 2: Compared with people who do not watch American soap operas,
the individual value systems of American soap opera audiences more easily shift from

17
collectivism to individualism.

ⅲPower Distance

Diagram 3.1 is the value rankings of different countries in this dimension.

Power distance is another dimension in Hofstede’s study, and the concept of
power distance comes from a Netherlands social psychologist Mulder (1977, p.90),
and he defines this term as “the degree of inequality in power between a less powerful
individual (I) and a more powerful other (O), in which I and O belong to the same
(loosely or tightly knit) social system.” Foster (1992, p.267) later simplifies and
clarifies this concept, “in some cultures, those who hold power and those who are
affected by power are significantly far apart (high power distance) in many ways,
while in other cultures, the power holders and those affected by the power holders are
significantly closer (low power distance).” Meanwhile, Samovar also notes that “The
premise of the dimension deals with the extent to which a society prefers that power
in relationships, institutions, and organizations be distributed unequally. Although all
cultures have tendencies for both high- and low-power relationships, one orientation
seems to dominate.” (Samovar & Porter, 2004, p.64)

“Individuals from high power distance cultures accept power as part of society.
As such, superiors consider their subordinates to be different themselves and vice
versa.” (Gudykunst, 2001, p.41) In the high-power distance cultures, “both
consciously and and unconsciously, these cultures teach their members that people are
not equal in this world and that everybody has a rightful place, which is clearly
marked by countless vertical arrangements. Social hierarchy is prevalent and
institutionalizes inequality.” (Samovar & Porter, 2004, p.65)

18
 In the low-power-distance countries, “cultures referred to as ‘low power distance’
are guided by laws, norms and everyday behaviors that make power distinctions as
minimal as possible.” (Brislin, 1999, p.288) “People in these cultures believe they are
close to power and should have access to that power. To them, a hierarchy is an
inequality of roles established for convenience. Subordinates consider superiors to be
the same kind of people as they are, and the superiors perceive their subordinates the
same way.” (Samovar & Porter, 2004, p.66)
The effects of power distance not only exist between superiors and subordinates;
within the education context, “in large power distance societies, the educational
process is teacher centered. The teacher initiates all communication, outlines the path
of learning students should follow, and is never publicly criticized or contradicted. In
large power distance societies, the emphasis is on the personal ‘wisdom’ of the teacher,
while in small power distance societies the emphasis is on impersonal ‘truth’ that can
be obtained by any competent person.” (Calloway-Thomas, Cooper & Blake, 1999,
p.196)
As to the further analysis of Hofstede, he found that the different concepts of
power distance in different cultures derive from the varieties of family values. “In
large-power-distance situation, children are expected to be obedience toward their
parents. Sometimes there is even an order of authority among the children themselves,
younger children being expected to yield to older children. Independent behavior on
the part of a child is not encouraged.” (Hofstede G. & Hofstede J., 2005, p.51)
However in small-power-distance situation, “a need for independence is supposed to
be a major component of mental software of adults.” (Hofstede G. & Hofstede J.,
2005, p.52)
Consequently, the third hypothesis of the study is:
Hypothesis 3: Compared with people who do not watch American soap operas,
the individual value systems of American soap opera audiences are more easily
shifting to low-power-distance orientation.
In addition to the above; questions as “which gender more often adheres to
stereotypes of their cultural values?” could also be answered. Hence, do the
demographically different people act differently in case they are confronting conflicts
of cultures? In order to make it clear, I proposed several more hypotheses.
Hypothesis 4: Females are easier to change their values than males in the face
the influences of American soaps.
Hypothesis 5: People with high-level education are not easier to change their
values in face of the influences of American soaps.
Hypothesis 6: Older people are more reluctant to change their values in face of
the influences of American soaps.

19
 Ⅱ Test and Measures

In previous studies, the value surveys are not rare to see. In the book of Robinson,
Shaver and Wrightsman, they listed almost 20 value scales designed by predecessors;
such as the Rokeach Value Scale in 1967, the East-West Questionnaires designed by
Gilgen and Cho in 1979, Value Orientations Scale of Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck in
1961, and so on. (Robinson, Shaver & Wrightsman, 1991, p.661-742)
All those scales are approved to be reliable and valid in the previous studies;
however, each scale has their specific purposes and matches certain dimensions. This
study adopts the dimensions of Hofstede and Bond; nevertheless, I do not directly
intend to use the value scales of Hofstede. For Hofstede’s study solely surveys the
employees of IBM in that most of his questions relate to the workplace; for example,
in measuring one’s individualism and collectivism, he proposed the questions “How
important it is to you work with people who cooperate well with one another? And
How important it is to you have considerable freedom to adopt your own approach to
the job? ” (Hofstede, 2005, p.468) However, the interviewees of this study are chosen
according to their interests of soaps regardless of their occupations; therefore,
Hofstede’s value scales are not appropriate to use.
Fortunately, Hofstede concluded the polarization values of different dimensions.
Take power distance as an example; he noted that in low-power-distance societies,
people tend to think all the social members have equal rights, while in the
high-power-distance societies, citizens tend to hold the concept that the powerful
should have privileges. Based on the items Hofstede’s listed, I designed a five scale
which will be used as measurements of this study.

ⅰLong-term orientation & Short-term orientation

In this dimension, Hofstede concluded in aspects of general norm, family and

school, business and economics, religion and ways of thinking; (Hofstede G. &
Hofstede J., 2005, p.212,217,225,232) but some of the items he listed are involving
with strong western context; and moreover, some items many confuse the
interviewees after translation. Thus, after omitting some ambiguous ones, I select 22
items in this dimension.

Efforts should produce quick results. Perseverance, sustained efforts toward slow
results.

Social pressure toward spending. Thrift, being sparing with resources.

Respect for traditions. Respect for circumstances.

Concern with personal stability. Concern with personal adaptiveness.

20
Marriage is a moral arrangement. Marriage is a pragmatic arrangement.

Living with in-laws is a source of trouble. Living with in-laws is normal.

Old age is an unhappy period but it starts Old age is a happy period and it starts early.
late.

Preschool children can be cared for by Mothers should have time for their preschool
others. children.

Children get gifts for fun and love. Children get gifts for education and
development.

Children should learn tolerance and respect Children should learn how to be thrifty.
for others.

Birth order is not a matter of status. Older children in the family have authority over
younger children.

Students attribute success and failure to Students attribute success to effort and failure
luck. to lack of it.

Analytical thinking. Synthetic thinking.

Leisure time is important. Leisure time is not important.

Importance of this year’s profits. Importance of profits 10 years from now.

Investment in mutual funds. Investment in real estate.

Concern with possessing the Truth. Concern with respecting the demands of Virtue.

There are universal guidelines about what What is good and evil depends upon the
is good and evil. circumstances.

Higher rates of imprisonment. Lower rates of imprisonment.

There is a need for cognitive consistency. Disagreement does not hurt.

If A is true, its opposite B must be false. If A is true, its opposite B can also be true.

Priority given to abstract rationality. Priority given to common sense.

21
 ⅱIndividualism & Collectivism

In this dimension, Hofstede listed the polarization values on general norm and
family, language, personality and behavior, school and the work place, the state and
ideas. (Hofstede G. & Hofstede J., 2005, p.92, 97,104,109) I finally select 20 items
for the scale.

Laws and rights are supposed to be the same Laws and rights differ by group.
for all.

Children learn to think in terms of “I”. Children learn to think in terms of “we”

Speaking one’s mind is a characteristic of Harmony should always be maintained and

an honest person. direct confrontations avoided.

Trespassing leads to guilty and loss of Trespassing leads to shame and loss of face for
self-respect. self and group.

The purpose of education is learning how to The purpose of education is learning how to do.
learn.

The employer-employee relationship is a The employer-employee relationship is

contract between parties on a labor market. basically moral, like a family.

Hiring and promotion decisions are Hiring and promotion decisions take an
supposed to be based on skills and rules employee’s in-group into account.
only.

Management is management of individuals. Management is management of groups.

Task prevails over relationship. Relationship prevails over task.

Everyone has a right to privacy. Private life in invaded by groups.

Everyone is expected to have a private Opinions are predetermined by group

opinion. membership.

Media is the primary source of information. Social network is the primary source of
information.

Self-actualization by every individual is an Harmony and consensus in society are ultimate

22
ultimate goal. goals.

A larger share of both private and public A smaller share of both private and public
incomes is spent on health care. incomes is spent on health care.

Ideologies of individual freedom prevail Ideologies of equality prevail over ideologies of

over ideologies of equality. individual freedom.

Joint stock companies are owned by Companies are owned by families or

individual investors. collectives.

Occupational mobility is higher. Occupational mobility is lower.

Diplomas increase economic worth and/or Diplomas provide entry to higher status groups.
self-respect.

Autonomy is the ideal. Patriotism is the ideal.

Students are expected to individually speak Students only speak up in class when
up in class. sanctioned by the group.

ⅲPower Distance

In this dimension, Hofstede summarized in spheres of general norm, family and

school, the workplace, the state. (Hofstede G. & Hofstede J., 2005, p.57, 59, 67) The
items which are used in the scale are the following 18.

Inequality among people should be Inequality among people are expected and
minimized. desired.

Parents treat children as equals. Parents teach children obedience.

Teachers expect initiative from students in Teachers should take all initiatives in class.
class.

Teachers are experts who transfer Teachers are gurus who transfer personal
impersonal truths. virtues.

Students treat teachers as equals. Students give teachers respect, even outside of
class.

Hierarchy in organizations means an Hierarchy in organizations reflects existential

inequality of roles, established for inequality between higher and lower levels.

23
convenience.

There is a narrow salary range between the There is a wide salary range between the top
top and bottom of the organization. and bottom of the organization.

Managers rely on their own experience and Managers rely on superiors and on formal rules.
on subordinates.

All should have equal rights. The powerful should have privileges.

Skills, wealth, power and status need not go Skills, wealth, power and status should go
together. together.

There are small income differentials in There are large income differentials in society,
society, further reduced by the tax system. further increased by the tax system.

There is more dialogue and less violence in There is less dialogue and more violence in
domestic politics. domestic politics.

Mostly wealthier countries with a large Mostly wealthier countries with a small middle
middle class. class.

Quality of learning depends on two-way Quality of learning depends on excellence of

communication and excellence of students. teachers.

The ideal boss is a resourceful democrat. The ideal boss is a benevolence autocrat, or
“good father”.

Less educated persons hold more Both more and less educated persons show
authoritarian values than more educated equal authoritarian values.
persons.

Decentralization is popular. Centralization is popular.

Educational policy focuses on secondary Educational policy focuses on universities.

schools.

Ⅲ Research Design & Sampling

In order to test the potential causal relationship between watching American

soaps and shifts of values, this study adopts Solomon Four-Group Design. Besides, it
could also be used for controlling the effects of Pretest Sensitization now that the
pretest may affect the attitudes and behaviors of the interviewees.

24
 The targets will be chosen from sfile.ydy.com/bbs[1]. BBS plays a vital role in the
spread of soaps in that net people in China can download them freely. Fans of
different types of soaps usually found groups on BBS to share the same interests; they
also discuss these soaps within the group. According to Liang Liang, the founder of
YYETS (www.yyets.net)[2], members of a certain soap group on BBS are more often
than not the core fans of this genre of soap, which indicates that they spend most of
their leisure time on this kind of soaps. For instance, the members of “Hong Kong
soap group” rarely watch other types of soaps but Hong Kong ones; similarly, the
“American soap group” mostly focuses on American soaps.
As fans of Chinese soaps do not found any groups on BBS, I choose members of
“Hong Kong soap group” as my objectives. In the previous studies, researchers find
that most of the cultural values in mainland China and Hong Kong societies resemble
a lot, (Bond T. A., 1996) especially in the dimensions this study focuses on. Thus, it is
predicted that a large-scale shift of values will not occur even if Chinese audiences
watch Hong Kong soaps extendedly.
At first place, the selected interviewees will be surveyed by Rokeach Value
Scale[3], which is generally considered to be the most effective one among various
value scales; and the all the testees will be ranked by their scores afterwards. Then the
researcher will choose 80 members whose scores are most close to a certain range;
within which, the testees are reckoned hold typical Chinese values. If the number of
qualified testees beyond 80; the systematic sampling will be adopted; and the
members will be chosen by a certain distance from a list in which their user names are
alphabetically ranked. The 80 selected members then will be randomly and averagely
distributed to 4 groups. If there are less than 80 qualified members, then the sampling
part will be skipped and the testees are being grouped into 4 parts averagely.
The soap which this study chooses is Desperate Housewives, reasons are raised
as below. To begin with, Desperate Housewives bases on the American family life and
the families in the soap are the middle-class majorities in American society; hence,
their behaviors and ways of life best embody the dominant social values in US. At the
second place, it is a show on ABC networks, one of the biggest three TV networks in
the States, so that a rigorous review is implemented before broadcasting. In order to
pass the strict inspection; the soap seldom exaggerates sex and violence, and such
provocative or pornographic images are very likely to distort audiences’ judgments. In
addition, compared with other soaps with same popularity, the American society in
Desperate Housewives is much more authentic; for example, Prison Break’s story

[1]
It is the most comprehensive soap website in China, where audiences can find almost every domestic soap and
some of the hit ones aboard. Moreover, fans of different genres of soaps organize groups, such as Hong Kong soap
group, American soap group, and so on.
[2]
It is one of the biggest American-soaps-download websites in China, with over 80,000 users; and it organize the
earliest Subtitles Group among the soap websites.
[3]
I choose the Rokeach Value Scale, which is acknowledgedly recognized as the most effective scale in measuring
the general values, instead of the newly designed five scales in order to guarantee the validity of the study. Listed
below are the specific reasons; firstly, the five scales are mainly focusing on the three dimensions this study will
test, while the RVS are inclusively effective under general circumstances. Secondly, the five scales will be used
twice later in the study, and repeatedly use one scale may cause sensitization consequently.

25
happens in the jail and Lost shows an abnormal life which would never happen in real
life. In all, three seasons (season 1, 2, 3 respectively has 23, 24, 23 episodes with
altogether almost 3500 minutes) of Desperate Housewives are used as “stimulus” by
this study.
As shown in the below tables, members in group A and B will be surveyed by the
five-scale at the beginning of the research. Then, disks of three seasons of Desperate
Housewives will be dispatched to the members of group A and group C. For it may
not convenient for some interviewees to receive the mailed disks; there is an
alternative way to obtain these soaps, the BBS will create each testee an account and
open the FTP database for their downloading. Thus the testees can choose the most
comfortable and convenient way to get soaps. The testing period is four months,
which indicates that the testees of group A and C are required to finish watching all
the three seasons of Desperate Housewives within the stipulated time and meanwhile,
they are also required not to get access to any other genres of soap operas but the
American ones in the testing period. As to the members in group B and D, there are
no restrictions for them except for not contacting American soaps during the period;
but it is permitted, even advocated, for them to watch Hong Kong soaps in accordance
with their daily interests. Four months later, all the members in four groups are
designed to take the post-test uniformly.

Groups Pretest Watching Soaps Posttest

Group A √ √ √

Group B √ √

Group C √ √

Group D √

Dimensions Dimension 1 Dimension 2 Dimension 3

Groups
Pretest Post-test Pretest Post-test Pretest Post-test

Group A √ √ √ √ √ √

Group B √ √ √ √ √ √

Group C √ √ √

Group D √ √ √

26
 All the questionnaire surveys in this study are Internet based since the testees are
selected on Internet regardless of their location. The questionnaires will be uploaded
onto http://www.my3q.com, and the researchers invite the selected testees to complete
the questionnaires through sending e-mails with the above link in. The testees will be
subsidized in order to ensure they are willing to follow the rules during the process,
which plays an important role in maintaining the validness of the research.

Ⅳ Data Analysis

ⅰ Test of Homogeneity in Solomon 4-group Design

This study adopts Solomon 4-group Design, and the homogeneity of four groups
of samples is a prerequisite for the effectiveness of this design. Specifically speaking
for this study, the testees have to be guaranteed with two-aspect homogeneity; not
only should they have homogeneous demographic characteristics but they are also
supposed to have similar values.
The latter test is done at the sampling process, the researcher select the samples
according to their scores of Rokeach Value Test. A Chi-square Test for Homogeneity
of Proportions will be conducted in order to study whether or not the samples are
significantly different in demographic aspects. Five demographic variables are taken
into consideration: gender, age, educational background, martial status and average
soap opera consuming time.

ⅱ Independent-sample T-test

By this test, the researcher can discover the assuming existence of the causal
association between watching American soaps and shifts of cultural patterns. In
addition to that, the first three hypotheses could also be examined. The
Independent-sample T-test will be formulated among several sets of data to study
whether means of two comparing groups statistically differ from each other.
1: The pretest data of the experimental group A and the control group B in
dimension 1, 2, and 3 will be tested in order to examine whether the experimental
group and the control group act similarly toward the same test.
2: The experimental group A and the control group B will receive an
Independent-sample T-test based on their post-test data in dimension 1, 2, and 3, in
order to study whether watching the soaps cause the shifts of values as well as in
which dimension do shifts occur.
3: An Independent-sample T-test of the post-test data of the experimental group
C and the control group D in dimension 1, 2, and 3 will be used to verify the
proposition that testees’ values shift in different dimensions after the stimulation by
soaps.

27
 4: Another Independent-sample T-test will be performed on the post-test data in
dimension 1, 2, and 3 of experimental group A and C with purposes of studying
whether pretest sensitization exist in this study.

ⅲ Paired-sample T-test

A Paired-sample T-test is used to determine the significance of the difference

between two sets of paired data; usually they are the pretest and post-test data of the
same sample. It is an example of a repeated measures design in order to test whether
the pretest create a defect that makes subjects either more or less sensitive to the
experimental variable. In this study, two Paired-sample T-tests will be formulated.
1: The pretest data and the post-test data in dimension 1, 2, and 3 of the
experimental group A will be tested in order to examine the changes between people’s
values, which are either caused by watching soaps or the sensitization of pretest.
2: The control group B will also receive a Paired-sample T-test based on its pretest
and post-test data in dimension 1, 2, and 3, aiming to study the existence of pretest
sensitization.

ⅳ Means Analysis with ANOVA Test

It is often useful to examine means or averages of a variable according to

categories of other variables, such as gender, educational background, and so on; and
the output ANOVA test results could tell the researcher the significance of difference
between categories; by which, and the researcher further determine whether the
association exist between two variables. In this study, the means test could verify the
hypotheses on the shifts of values and demographic characteristics (the last three
hypotheses).
1: Respectively take the pretest data and the post-test data in dimension 1, 2 and 3
of the experimental group A as the dependent variables and take gender data as the
independent variables. Then, compare the males’ pretest and post-test means as well
as the females’ pretest and post-test means. From the extent of changes, researchers
could conclude which gender is easier to change their values.
2: The pretest data and the post-test data in dimension 1, 2, and 3 of the
experimental group A are also used as dependent variables and the educational
background data are used as independent variables. Then compare the pretest and
post-test means according to the educational categories and the extent of changes can
reflect whether shifts of values and educational background relate.
3: The pretest data and the post-test data in dimension 1, 2, and 3 of the
experimental group A receive another analysis when age data are used as independent
variables. Compare the results according to the age categories subsequently and the
researcher could find the correlation between shifts of values and age.

28
 Ⅴ Reliability and Validity Analysis

ⅰ Reliability Analysis

This study adopts Split Half Reliability analysis, in which the researcher split the
variables into two average parts in three dimensions respectively for the correlation
coefficient (r). Questions in each questionnaire have been proved to be the effective
items in measuring people’s values in a certain dimension by the previous studies of
Hofstede and Bond, thus, we can deduce that all the items within a certain dimension
are measuring the same concept and the split-half reliability coefficients (r) are valid.

ⅱValidity Analysis

The frame of this study derives from Hofstede and Bond; the scales they used are
being demonstrating and discussing for many turns. Moreover, Michael Harris Bond’s
supplements to the study endow with the scales more validity. “Bond found a creative
solution to the western bias problem. Bond asked a number of Chinese social
scientists from Hong Kong and Taiwan to prepare in Chinese a list of at least ten basic
values for Chinese people. Through the elimination of overlap and, on the other side,
adding some values that from his reading of Chinese philosophers and social scientists
seemed to be similarly important, he arrived at a questionnaire of forty items – the
same number as in the previously used RVS (Rokeach Values Survey).” (Hofstede G.
& Hofstede J., 2005, p.30) In all, the questionnaires this study used equip with
Content Validity.

Ⅵ Unstructured Interview

Besides the quantitative survey, the study is also planned to conduct qualitative
interviews for some members of Subtitles Group in YYETS (www.yyets.net). The
unstructured interview mainly focuses on their work conditions and what they will
dispose when they confront cultural conflicts during the translation. The Subtitles
Group is a group of people having long-term exposure to US soaps and their senses of
identities of the American values are supposed to be much higher than common
audiences; hence, the interview may supplement to and explain for the research
results to some extent.
The number of people expected to interview is 5 or 6, recommended by Liang
Liang and mainly through interviews or phone interviews.

29
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Appendix 1
Values Questionnaire of Long-term Orientation and Short-term Orientation

1. Statement A: Efforts should produce quick results.

Statement B: Perseverance, sustained efforts toward slow results.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
2. Statement A: Social pressure toward spending.
Statement B: Thrift, being sparing with resources.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B

33
□Totally Agree With B
3. Statement A: Respect for traditions.
Statement B: Respect for circumstances.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
4. Statement A: Concern with personal stability.
Statement B: Concern with personal adaptiveness.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
5. Statement A: Marriage is a moral arrangement.
Statement B: Marriage is a pragmatic arrangement.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
6. Statement A: Living with in-laws is a source of trouble.
Statement B: Living with in-laws is normal.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
7. Statement A: Old age is an unhappy period but it starts late.

34
 Statement B: Old age is a happy period and it starts early.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
8. Statement A: Preschool children can be cared for by others.
Statement B: Mothers should have time for their preschool children.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
9. Statement A: Children get gifts for fun and love.
Statement B: Children get gifts for education and development.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
10. Statement A: Children should learn tolerance and respect for others.
Statement B: Children should learn how to be thrifty.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
11. Statement A: Birth order is not a matter of status.
Statement B: Older children in the family have authority over younger
children.

35
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
12. Statement A: Students attribute success and failure to luck.
Statement B: Students attribute success to effort and failure to lack of it.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
13. Statement A: Analytical thinking.
Statement B: Synthetic thinking.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
14. Statement A: Leisure time is important.
Statement B: Leisure time is not important.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
15. Statement A: Importance of this year’s profits.
Statement B: Importance of profits 10 years from now.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand

36
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
16. Statement A: Investment in mutual funds.
Statement B: Investment in real estate.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
17. Statement A: Concern with possessing the Truth.
Statement B: Concern with respecting the demands of Virtue.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
18. Statement A: There are universal guidelines about what is good and evil.
Statement B: What is good and evil depends upon the circumstances.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
19. Statement A: Higher rates of imprisonment.
Statement B: Lower rates of imprisonment.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
20. Statement A: There is a need for cognitive consistency.

37
Statement B: Disagreement does not hurt.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
21. Statement A: If A is true, its opposite B must be false.
Statement B: If A is true, its opposite B can also be true.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
22. Statement A: Priority given to abstract rationality.
Statement B: Priority given to common sense.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B

Appendix 2
Values Questionnaire of Individualism and Collectivism

1. Statement A: Laws and rights are supposed to be the same for all.
Statement B: Laws and rights differ by group.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B

38
 □Totally Agree With B
2. Statement A: Children learn to think in terms of “I”.
Statement B: Children learn to think in terms of “we”.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
3. Statement A: Speaking one’s mind is a characteristic of an honest person.
Statement B: Harmony should always be maintained and direct
confrontations avoided.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
4. Statement A: Trespassing leads to guilty and loss of self-respect.
Statement B: Trespassing leads to shame and loss of face for self and group.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
5. Statement A: The purpose of education is learning how to learn.
Statement B: The purpose of education is learning how to do.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B

39
 6. Statement A: The employer-employee relationship is a contract between
parties on a labor market.
Statement B: The employer-employee relationship is basically moral, like a
family.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
7. Statement A: Hiring and promotion decisions are supposed to be based on
skills and rules only.
Statement B: Hiring and promotion decisions take an employee’s in-group
into account.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
8. Statement A: Management is management of individuals.
Statement B: Management is management of groups.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
9. Statement A: Task prevails over relationship.
Statement B: Relationship prevails over task.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B

40
 □Totally Agree With B
10. Statement A: Everyone has a right to privacy.
Statement B: Private life in invaded by groups.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
11. Statement A: Everyone is expected to have a private opinion.
Statement B: Opinions are predetermined by group membership.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
12. Statement A: Media is the primary source of information.
Statement B: Social network is the primary source of information.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
13. Statement A: Self-actualization by every individual is an ultimate goal.
Statement B: Harmony and consensus in society are ultimate goals.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
14. Statement A: A larger share of both private and public incomes is spent
on health care.

41
 Statement B: A smaller share of both private and public incomes is spent on
health care.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
15. Statement A: Ideologies of individual freedom prevail over ideologies of
equality.
Statement B: Ideologies of equality prevail over ideologies of individual
freedom.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
16. Statement A: Joint stock companies are owned by individual investors.
Statement B: Companies are owned by families or collectives.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
17. Statement A: Occupational mobility is higher.
Statement B: Occupational mobility is lower.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
18. Statement A: Diplomas increase economic worth and/or self-respect.

42
Statement B: Diplomas provide entry to higher status groups.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
19. Statement A: Autonomy is the ideal.
Statement B: Patriotism is the ideal.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
20. Statement A: Students are expected to individually speak up in class.
Statement B: Students only speak up in class when sanctioned by the group.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B

Appendix 3
Values Questionnaire of Power Distance

1. Statement A: Inequality among people should be minimized.

Statement B: Inequality among people are expected and desired.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B

43
 2. Statement A: Parents treat children as equals.
Statement B: Parents teach children obedience.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
3. Statement A: Teachers expect initiative from students in class.
Statement B: Teachers should take all initiatives in class.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
4. Statement A: Teachers are experts who transfer impersonal truths.
Statement B: Teachers are gurus who transfer personal virtues.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
5. Statement A: Students treat teachers as equals.
Statement B: Students give teachers respect, even outside of class.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
6. Statement A: Hierarchy in organizations means an inequality of roles,
established for convenience.

44
 Statement B: Hierarchy in organizations reflects existential inequality
between higher and lower levels.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
7. Statement A: There is a narrow salary range between the top and bottom
of the organization.
Statement B: There is a wide salary range between the top and bottom of the
organization.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
8. Statement A: Managers rely on their own experience and on subordinates.
Statement B: Managers rely on superiors and on formal rules.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
9. Statement A: All should have equal rights.
Statement B: The powerful should have privileges.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
10. Statement A: Skills, wealth, power and status need not go together.

45
 Statement B: Skills, wealth, power and status should go together.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
11. Statement A: There are small income differentials in society, further
reduced by the tax system.
Statement B: There are large income differentials in society, further
increased by the tax system.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
12. Statement A: There is more dialogue and less violence in domestic
politics.
Statement B: There is less dialogue and more violence in domestic politics.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
13. Statement A: Mostly wealthier countries with a large middle class.
Statement B: Mostly wealthier countries with a small middle class.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
14. Statement A: Quality of learning depends on two-way communication
and excellence of students.

46
 Statement B: Quality of learning depends on excellence of teachers.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
15. Statement A: The ideal boss is a resourceful democrat.
Statement B: The ideal boss is a benevolence autocrat, or “good father”.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
16. Statement A: Less educated persons hold more authoritarian values than
more educated persons.
Statement B: Both more and less educated persons show equal authoritarian
values.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
17. Statement A: Decentralization is popular.
Statement B: Centralization is popular.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B
□Totally Agree With B
18. Statement A: Educational policy focuses on secondary schools.

47
 Statement B: Educational policy focuses on universities.
□Totally Agree With A
□Comparably Agree With A
□Neutrally Stand
□Comparably Agree With B

Appendix 4
Demographic Information
1. Gender：□Male □Female
2. Martial Status：□Marriaged □Single
3. Age：□20－25 □26－30 □31－35 □36－40 □Over40
4. Educational Background：□Primary School □Junior High □Senior High
□Bachelor Degree □Master Degree □Higher Than Master Degree
5. Average Soap Opera Consuming Time ：□Below 1 Hour □1 to 2 Hours □2 to
3 Hours □3 to 4 Hours □Above 4 Hours

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