The Influence of MTV Base Musical Programme on the Dressing Pattern of ABSU Students
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the Study
The general objective of this study is to evaluate the influence of MTV Base musical programme on the dressing pattern of ABSU students, while the specific objectives of the study are:
- To find out whether the respondents frequently watch MTV BASE programmes.
- To find out whether the students` dressing patterns are influenced by their viewership of MTV Base
- To determine the cultural implication of MTV BASE programmes on the dressing patterns of the respondents.
- To determine whether there is a significant relationship between the respondents’ viewership of MTV BASE programmes and the erosion of African culture.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Conceptual review
The Concept of Culture
Culture is very much an elusive term to define, perhaps because of its wider scope and broad nature. However, what comes to the mind while thinking of culture is values and norms people have which make them live in a particular way. It is a way of living in a particular community. According to Uwaezuoke (2010) culture is the sum total of all things that refer to religion, roots of people, symbols, languages, songs, stories, celebrations, clothing and dressing, and all expressions of our way of life. It encompasses food productions, technology, architecture, kinship, the interpersonal relationships, political and economic systems and all the social relationships these entail. One truth about culture is that it is learned. Such learning does not take place through natural inheritance (Uwaezuoke, 2010). It is not genetically transmitted. Rather, it takes place by a process of absorption from the social environment or through deliberate instruction, or through the process of socialization. If culture is learned, it may follow to say that, it can equally be unlearned (Uwaezuoke, 2010). If it follows, then, Africa has a lot to unlearn (those western values that are alien and destructive to the African culture) from the contact with the West. However, this does not suggest that Africa has nothing good to learn from the West.
Hence Nwabueze (2010, p. 8) sees culture as everything a society thinks, believes, does, and possess as members of that society, “it is our social inheritance that give structure to our lives, it is normatively learned and transmitted.” The normative aspect of culture involves goals we should pursue and how we should pursue them, the values we should espouse, systems of morality, including what is sinful, shameful and embarrassing. Culture is learned when we are socialised into values, beliefs and rules of the society. Culture has to do with the totality of man and his belief system, culture never perishes.
The culture of African continent is rapidly undergoing a rudimentary phase of Cultural Revolution. Indeed, this revolution is both positive and negative. Positive because some of the hitherto sacrosanct cultural practices that depict nothing but irrational worldviews and belief systems, outdated customs and practices that constitute a bane to the development of the populace in the region and are fast becoming unattractive and actually phasing out. Thanks to the contact with the West in historical moments of colonialism and current globalisation. It has indeed brought about cultural renaissance. Negative on the other hand, because our age long cherished traditions and valuable customs are rapidly going into extinction.
As Uwaezuoke (2010, p.5) puts it, “If in this so-called global integration (globalization) we lose what defines us, then we are lost as a people and as a continent. It is already happening and has generated with it a crisis of identity amongst Africans and Nigerians in general”.
In the process of international interactions, there is an interaction of cultures and thus, a borrowing and diffusion of cultures amongst nations. This is in itself not unusual. But unusual and unfortunate is the domination of one culture over the other. This is an evil, an evil of forced acculturation (Ekwuru, 1999). This is true of globalisation which has generated a lot of controversy with regards to the rise of a global culture in which Western life is being adopted as the normal way of life (Uwaezuoke, 2010).
However, in the assessment of the impact of globalisation on individuals, nations and the global world, many scholars, opinion leaders and political analysts etc. have expressed divergent and dissenting views. While they all agree that globalisation has a political, economic, cultural and even religious impact on individuals, nations and the world at large, they however, disagree on the nature and extent of this impact. While some argue that it is all positive, some believe that it has nothing but negative impacts. Yet others see it as being both positive and negative (Kwame, 2007). Zion and Kozloski (2005) identified the news media and pop culture as major factors that influences cultural identity. They believe that what we see on television, or read in magazines, influences our beliefs about ourselves and others, claiming that, in subtle and explicit ways, the media influences our values. Zion and Kozloski (2005) are of the opinion that pop culture influences our images of ourselves, including what is appropriate behavior, dress, and criteria for success.
Zion and Kozloski (2005) argue that our views of ourselves in relation to our personal interests and memberships in social groups can often form the core of our individual cultural identity. Chosen affiliations or hobbies such as athlete, outdoorsman, cowboy, biker, artist, or environmentalist can influence our cultural identity development. We develop our individual and cultural identity as we define ourselves in relation to our environments, in our relationships with others, and in our participation in groups. We explore alternatives, make choices, and decide what we believe in, based on the experiences we have and our interactions with others. Thus, our identities are often a combination of the beliefs, values, and experiences we have been exposed to and shared with others.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
For this study, the survey research method was adopted to investigate the influence of popular culture on dressing patterns of ABSU students who watch MTV BASE programmes. This was chosen because of the effectiveness of survey research method in studying the attitudes and opinion of people, and in enhancing the study of both small and large number of people that derived from the entire population and share basic characteristics of the elements that make up that population (Asika, 2009, p. 29; Nwodu, 2006, p. 67). Furthermore, the survey method affords the researcher opportunity to rate the influence of MTV BASE popular culture on undergraduates dressing patterns.
Area of Study
Abia State University is a state University found in Abia state. It is a state-owned university of Abia State Government. It is made up ten faculties and several departments. Students who watch MTV BASE programmes are scattered in the various departments. It is the opinion of the students especially those who regularly watch MTV BASE programmes that was sought to help the researcher address the research problem.
Population of Study
The population of ABSU students according to Abia State University Academic Planning Unit is 11,856, cutting across 10 faculties.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Results
Presentation and Analysis of Data
Obtained data were presented in frequency tables, with classifications, based on mutually exclusive categories (Nwodu, 2021). The tables are numbered and properly identified to reflect its content. 382 copies of questionnaire were distributed, returned and found usable for data analysis.
The inferential analyses done were to determine if there is a significant relationship between variables and to provide statistical premise for generalization. This technique provides the base to draw conclusion or relationship between variables. The chi-square goodness of fit was used in obtaining results by testing the research hypothesis.
Owing to its simplicity, the research employed the use of simple frequency distribution table as tools of data presentation. Further, the data were presented in simple percentage for clarity of purpose while analyzing data for the research work, chi-square (Goodness of fit) was used to test stated hypothesis for this research work.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusion
From the data presented and analysed, the researchers conclude that when university students are frequently exposed to MTV BASE programmes for several hours, by constantly viewing of the Music Station, it could result into cultural imperialism and erosion of folk culture because they may gravitate towards imbibing to what they watch on television to the detriment of our indigenous ways of dressing.
Based on the findings of this research, the review of related literatures and the theoretical framework; the researcher therefore, concludes that musical videos have a significant relationship with the dress pattern of majority of ABSU students.
Several researches on television and films influence on youth, revealed unequivocal evidence that television has influence on youth behavior in both immediate and long-term contexts than any mass media channel. This study focuses on the media use patterns of male and female University students and changes in attitudes toward dressing as attributed to media (Television).
Recommendations
Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are made:
- MTV BASE should stop over-centralisation of foreign music which are shown in all their stations across the globe forcing viewers to watch and appreciate other people’s culture while their own is facing extinction.
- University students in Nigeria should be more responsible by preferring Nigerian culture to others by the way they dress, talk and dance rather than cultivating and adopting alien cultures that constantly put them under criticism.
- Government should regulate the contents of cable stations accessible to Nigerian youths in order to reduce the penetration of western cultures which the youths seem to prefer.
Suggestion for Further studies
Other researchers may carry out similar researches on other schools to throw more light on the topic at hand.
REFERENCES
- Allen, B. J. (2005). Social constructionism. In S. May & D. K. Mumby (Eds.), Engaging organizational communication theory and research: multiple perspectives (pp. 35–53). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- Anadi, C. C., & Egboka, P. N. (2007). “Indecent dressing among female undergraduate of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka: Implication for Reforms in Education”. Unizik Orient Journal of Education, 3 (1), 13-21.
- American Psychological Association, (2007).Task force on the sexualization of girls report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/wpo/sexualizationrep.pdf.
- Anaeto, S. G., Onabanjo, S. O., & Osifeso, B. J. (2008). Models and theories of communication. Maryland, Nigeria: African Renaissance Books Incorporated
- Answer.com (2011). Why do people wear clothes? Retrieved from http://www.answers.com/Q/ why-do- people- wear-clothes
- Articlesbase.com (2011). Curbing moral mecadence in our educational sector. Retrieved rom http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/curbing-moral- decadence-in-our-educational-sector-4692398.html.
- Asika, N. (2009). Research methodology in the behavioural sciences. Lagos: Longman Nigeria Plc.
- Auderheide, P. (1986). The look of the sound. In T. Gitlin (Ed.), Watching television. New York, NY: Panthon.
