Soap Operas Worldwide

<p> While the American soap opera is known primarily for its marketing value producers health professionals politicians and rebels elsewhere focus on the serials' potential for social change: African Indian and South American serials offer information on family planning child protection and AIDS; a Mexican telenovela parallels a government murder scandal--the program is so popular the state dare not censor it. In Russia South American novelas are so popular that Boris Yeltsin manipulates programming to affect voters on polling day. </p><p> Here is an examination of the economic and social impact of the soap opera with projections for the future. A chapter for each of the nine regions of the world offers demographic statistics of major countries' audiences radio and television usage stations available and synopses of the most popular serials.</p>