48

 The main purpose of group literacy programs in the style of

 Paulo Freire is not simply to train people in literacy, but to educate

 them to their individual and group potential. Freire calls this

 process "conscientizacao." : Experiments involving
 group participation in making film or video tape indicate that this

 process also can contribute to the emergence of new perceptions and

 patterns of social interaction.2 Similar changes can occur when people

 are asked to create a play, or presumably a radio program.

 There is some evidence that new social processes can be created

even by the more passive process of having groups organized to watch

collectively (or state) owned television sets, which can include agricul-

tural extension programs. Apparently, in the presence of the new technology

of television, traditional cleavages can be overlooked, at least in the

short run. In India, it has been observed: '

 One of the most notable offshoots of (Satellite Instructional
 Television Experiment Project) SITE has been the role of TV as
 a social equalizer. It was common at the initial stages to
 see different sections of the society watching the programs
 while sitting in distinct groups. But slowly these disappeared
 and it was no longer possible to distinguish "big" farmers from
 "small" farmers, harijans from non-harijans, or educated farmers
 from the illiterates."

Radio listening groups may have similar social benefits.4 Of course, in


 Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York: Seabury, 1970).
 W. Anthony Williamson, "The Fogo Process in Communication," in
Training for Agriculture and Rural Development (Rome: FAO, 1975), pp. 93-98.

 Lal Karamchandani, "Television for Rural Development, Indian
Experience with SITE," Training for Agriculture and Rural Development
(Rome: FAO, 1976), p. 134. See also Shingi and Mody, "The Communications
Effects Gap," p. 93.

 F.M. Ragheb, "Training and the Green Revolution," in Training
for Agriculture and Rural Development (Rome: FAO, 1975), pp. 1-9.