M. Reith, THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN UNEMPLOYMENT IN SOCIETY AND THE POPULARITY OF CRIME DRAMA ON TV, Journal of broadcasting & electronic media, 40(2), 1996, pp. 258-264
This research explores the hypothesis that social stress, as indexed b
y rising unemployment in society, leads to increased preference for cr
ime drama on TV. This hypothesis is tested by relating the unemploymen
t rates in the U.S., Canada, and Germany over several years with natio
nal trends for the relative popularity of crime drama (i.e., as compar
ed to the popularity of other program categories). Support for this hy
pothesis is found in the U.S. and in Canada.