Revue Interdisciplinaire, Vol. 1, No 1 (2017)

Media and Cultural Identity Adjustment in Morocco

Sadik Madani Alaoui

Résumé


Over the past decades, the concept of media and cultural identity has gone in and out of
fashion within media and cultural studies. In fact, in this age of globalization of media and
culture, societies have to reconstruct and clearly define themselves within the culture in which
they live. This paper attempts to explore implications of global media, especially satellite
television, for adolescents‟ cultural identity formation. The rationale behind this thesis is that
adolescents increasingly form multi-layered identities because they grow up enmeshed with
various cultural beliefs, values and behaviors, based on indirect media interaction. The
analysis is principally carried out from the perspective of research on globalization, media and
adolescents cultural identity formation. Therefore, two main questions are to be answered.
First, How do Moroccan adolescents use satellite television in terms of the amount of time
they spend on viewing and the kinds of programs they watch? Does this use differ
demographically? (Gender, age, social status, parents, educational level, home satellite
television access, religious orientations). Second, to what extent does satellite television
viewing context and preferences influence dimensions and indicators of cultural identity?
Over 316 students were asked to fill out the questionnaire designed by the author. Results
indicated the ambivalent and diverse nature of cultural identity. Finally, findings are discussed
based on the results of the study.