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Carleton College

Publication Date

Fall 2011

Program Name

India: Sustainable Development and Social Change

Abstract

With the expansion of globalization in the modern era, ideas from individual cultures are more easily able to spread to other parts of the world. One set of cultural standards that may be spreading to India is that of beauty, where a media with an increasingly Western style shares television space with advertisements from corporations that are often foreign in origin. This study seeks to examine exactly what influence this globalized media has on its viewers, and, in particular, on their perspectives on beauty. In addition, since the ability to conform to cultural standards affects how people view themselves, this study will scrutinize exactly what effects these standards of beauty have on the women being measured against them. Most of the data gathered in this study was collected from residents of the city of Delhi, with supplemental information collected from residents of Jaipur, from previous studies on related issues, and from the media itself. This study was conducted using qualitative methods, mostly through individual interviews with members of demographics likely to be affected by changing standards of beauty or likely to have significant numbers of interactions related to these changing standards. The findings of this study are that cultural standards of beauty in India are narrowing and conforming to more international standards, and that these changes are causing new physical and psychological problems to be introduced into Indian society.

Disciplines

Other Film and Media Studies | Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures | Social Influence and Political Communication | Sociology of Culture

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