Satellite Television and Cultural Replacement Among Canadian Eskimos

Abstract

The application of a satellite television distribution system in Canadian Arctic native communities has precipitated a new form of electronic colonialism. As a test of its influence, the degree of traditional culture replacement among Eskimo adults and their adolescent offspring in a television community was examined after two and one-half years of exposure to regular C.B.C. programming. "Television town" adult and adolescent responses were also compared with those generated by a group of high school students from media-isolated settlements. The results demonstrated significantly varied acculturation levels among the samples, with the greatest shift toward Euro-Canadian structures accruing to television town adolescents, followed by settlement students. Adults tended to be more attached to traditional norms. The prognosis extended is that the cultural replacement gap between adults and adolescents will increase with sustained exposure to southern television.