LIFESTYLE PHOTOGRAPHS AS VEHICLES OF SOCIOCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

ABSTRACT

Photographs are one of the easiest mediums that helps people to communicate effectively, what they find as beautiful moments and important social messages in their daily lives. It is in the premise of the above statement that this study focused on examining the effectiveness of Lifestyle Photographs as Vehicles of Sociocultural Communication Among the Undergraduates of University of Benin. The study aimed at assessing the level of exposure of the undergraduates of University of Benin to lifestyle photographs, the frequency at which they use lifestyle photographs for sociocultural communication and their level of satisfaction from using lifestyle photographs for sociocultural communication. The research was conducted on the students of the Department of Mass Communication, Theatre Arts, Fine and Applied Arts, Educational Management and Historty and International Studies in the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State. The study was anchored on the Sociocultural Theory and Cognitive Theory of Visual Communication. The survey research design was adopted for the study with the aid of a 16-item questionnaire administered to 369 respondents purposively selected from the four levels in the department of Mass Communication, Theatre Arts, Fine and Applied Arts, Educational Management and Historty and International Studies in the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State. Data obtained was analyzed and presented with the aid of Frequency Tables, Simple Percentage and Mean Scores. It was found out that majority of the undergraduates of the University of Benin are familiar with lifestyle photographs and subsequently have used lifestyle photographs at a high rate. This study discovered that lifestyle photographs can be used to preserve historical and cultural memories and can be used as mediums for sharing sociocultural meaning and information. The study also found out that the extent to which undergraduates of the University of Benin use lifestyle photographs  for sociocultural communication is very low and the frequency at which they use is not often. Therefore, the study concludes that lifestyle photographs are indeed vehicles of sociocultural communication but a majority of undergraduates of University of Benin do not use it frequently for sociocultural communication, show little interests and cannot tell the level of satisfaction they derived when they used it.