Yesterday's New Cultivation, Tomorrow

This article explores the continued applicability of cultivation theory in a new media environment. Previous theoretical and empirical work on media that were new at the time (such as cable TV and VCRs) is reviewed as context. Changes in the social and media conditions on which cultivation were premised are also discussed. Some ideas for new methodological approaches to cultivation measurement and study design are offered. Gerbner's thoughts on television as a new state religion are used as a framework for our analysis of the current relevance of cultivation theory more than four decades after its introduction, in a vastly different media context.