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This thesis outlines dominant ideologies and practices that affect women's authority in the urban social milieu of north India. Theories that consider the causes of social stratification by gender as well as social movement patterns are useful for understanding the durability of gender roles. The utility of these theories for understanding the patterns of social organization in India is discussed. Additionally, I report on interviews I conducted with police, non-governmental organization founders and individuals who are involved in and affected by women's issues, in order to outline potential variations in existing practices. In urban India, traditional and contemporary social practices meld into a proscribed, often volatile cultural setting in which women's roles are stringently defined. In the city of New Delhi, reports of "bride burnings" or murders attributed to family conflicts over dowry have surfaced during the last decades of the 2O century, and resulting protest movements have sparked governmental and grass-roots level reforms. Extreme cases of violence against women are indicative of troublesome cultural ideologies, including the social and economic devaluation of women. Urbanization has intensified financial negotiations in marriage alliances, and a woman's social worth is increasingly measured according to her market value. A Women's Movement comprised of various interest groups has contributed to the dialog on the social climate of north India, and feminist advocates have sought to redefine women's roles. Within the hierarchical structure of the Hindu culture, concepts of kinship and community take precedence over personal agendas, and social action is thus driven by family values as well as movement ideologies. State policies designed to address social ills such as domestic violence are ineffectual because they do not address the extant causes of abuse or constraints against women. Independent organizations and activist groups have recognized the need to work within traditional norms in order to advance women's movement objectives, despite the restrictions inherent within patriarchy. These tactics risk accomplishing little social change, and may at times perpetuate practices that limit women's activity. / Graduation date: 2000

Almost seventy-five percent of India's one billion people live in villages. Until recently, most of the villages were fairly isolated from external media influence. As these villages continued to modernize and gain access to services once thought to be limited to an urban environment, basic human needs began to change. Television, which used to be thought of as a luxury, has in the past 10--15 years become perceived as a necessity. Rural Maharashtrian villages have suddenly been propelled into the electronic information age. These societies that used to be defined by their own oral traditions and stories are now more than ever being structured and reorganized through television. / The research question centers on the role of television in rural life, and the influence it has had on the social, economic and political landscape of the village. Through in-depth interviews and participant observation a picture emerged of television's role in the process of social change at the village level. The physical presence of television and the content of the medium both contribute to the restructuring of human relationships within village life. / The data suggest that television influences certain processes of social change, some of which include: consumerism, democratization, changing gender and age relations, linguistic hegemony, access to information and the entrepreneurial base. In addition, television has restructured the concept of time within the village community. The data also illustrate that village children are unaware of what life was like before the arrival of television. Villagers have become accustomed to their daily dosage of soap operas, movies, game shows and music programs. Rural Maharashtrians are increasingly becoming active participants in the "global village."