Review Article Radiating Social Change: An Analysis of the Dawn’s Lifestyle Supplements 2001-2012

Abstract

This analysis is premised on the fact that enormous social change is taking place in Pakistan, but very little is being written or analyzed about it by the academia. Newspapers, no doubt, are documenting it on daily basis. However, an important source material in this regard has emerged in the form of supplements printed by the largest national English daily Dawn, which has been appearing once or twice a year since 2001 to date (early 2013). Its main theme has been ‗change‘ which is being described, explained and investigated in this paper in its multiple dimensions. The Lifestyle supplement has been a part of an expo focused on the theme of ‗lifestyle‘. The great popularity of the event shows it has become an agent of change in its own right, since many hundreds and thousands of Pakistanis have so far participated in it. This paper is meant to outline, review and analyze major contours of change as portrayed in these Lifestyle supplements, so it is not a complete picture of change happening in Pakistan. The paper evaluates the worth of these supplements as a source material to comprehend the process in the context of Pakistani. The first section gives the theoretical background, followed by a brief introductory section of each supplement, 19 in total. In section three, views expressed in various articles of the supplement are summarized to explain the major contours of change which can be categorized under fourteen heads: individual life, collective life, dressing, eating and recreation, marriage and family dynamics, social relations, social structure, thinking (ideals, ideology, role models, etc.) worldview, value system, aspirations and wishes for the future, arts, technology, and gender.