Entertainment-education and social change: An analysis of parasocial interaction, social learning, collective efficacy, and paradoxical communication

Most past studies of entertainment-education programs have not provided an adequate theoretical explanation of the process through which community mem bers enact system-level changes as a result of exposure to entertainment-ed ucation media messages. Here we study the effects of an entertainment-educa tion radio soap opera by means of an observational case study in one Indian village. We investigate the paradoxes, contradictions, and audience member s' struggles in the process of media-stimulated change a process involving parasocial interaction, peer- communication, and collective efficacy.