Communications in Humanities Research ISSN: 2753-7072
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Research Article

Unequal Policies in American Television Entertainment in the Second Half of the 20th Century

Yuran DongNankai University*

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

Unequal policies shaped American television entertainment in the second half of the 20th century. These policies were rooted in the power of elite culture. After World War II, benefiting from economic prosperity and the rapid development of broadcasting technology, television entertainment programs became the core of the daily leisure life of the general public. But broadcast resources were not shared equally between cities and rural areas. Different ethnic groups also had very different levels of economic power. The cultural tastes of elite groups held a dominant position in the media. So American television during this period did not meet the cultural needs of all groups equally. Instead, it became a tool that kept elite cultural biases in place. In the early 1980s, neoliberalism began to rise. This brought some improvements to the unequal situation in television entertainment. But the deep cultural biases did not go away. They continued to exist through market competition. Studying these policies helps understand US TV entertainment history and reflect on today's societal identity crises.

Keywords: 20th-century America; television entertainment; inequality policies; pluralism
Published: April 13, 2026
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/2026.BJ32672
Volume: CHR Vol.105
pp. 147-156
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