I admit it. I found myself in a reality tv binge over the summer. What in the world had I spiraled into?

In the throes of some of the most absurd shows, I berated myself with my new found fascination, and I barely mentioned it to anyone out of embarrassment. If I did say something about it, I whispered as though it were a confession. Why was I opting to put down a book and replace my time with watching manufactured drama unfold?

I could not look away. The more outrageous the “plot” the more I had to stay tuned to see how people responded next. But, I am not alone in this viewer experience. The genre has exploded over the last two decades. As a Gen X-er, I marveled at the shift in entertainment content and its popularity. Once upon a time, when the film The Truman Show came out, the notion that following people around with cameras and manipulating people’s behavior seemed like a far fetched fiction. Now it’s mainstream.

I reached out to Sociology Professor Dr Lindemann who wrote about the narratives and implications embedded in reality tv. One of her assessments surprised me: reality tv reflects conservative ideas about monogamy, beauty, work, and family. In her book, she analyzes the boom of this form of entertainment and how, despite the outrageousness, returns to ideas of family and marriage as core values. We also learn from shows like Undercover Boss, how wide the space is between one’s labor and the corporation.

Her book has changed the way I view reality tv. Love is the prize! The standards of beauty and its relationship to wealth are magnified. Class differences are exposed and frustrations with being alienated in one’s labor are highlighted. We consume reality tv, in part, because the train wrecks confirm some of our deeply held beliefs about the structure of society, and alleviate our own sense of woe by tuning into an exaggerated version of problems outside our scope.

Dr. Lindemann explained her research and observations on Good Is In The Details. Click to listen for this incredibly interesting take on how reality tv mirrors culture.

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