Cerulo, K. A. (1984). Television, magazine covers, and the shared symbolic environment: 1948-1970. American Sociological Review, 49, 566-570.

Recent research has focused on the role of television in enhancing the shared symbolic environment, specifically the argument that the diffusion of television increased the proportion of the American population recognizing public figures and more abstract cultural symbols. This hypothesis has been tested with time series of the labeling used in the editorial cartoons found in five U. S. metropolitan newspapers. The present study examines the hypothesis using magazine covers. The findings offer additional support for the influence of television in increasing shared images. The growth of television corresponds to an increase in the use of symbols on magazine covers, a decrease in the labeling of those symbols, and a decrease in labels used solely to identify public figures. These changes occur most dramatically during the 1950s, a period in which television was rapidly speading thoughout American society.