Women and Soap Operas

The aim of this article is to study how women read, decode and interpret soap operas. The theoretical paradigm of this study is based on cultural studies. In other words, the theoretical framework is a constellation of the theory of hegemony (in Gramsci and Hall) and the theory of articulation (in Gramsci, Hall, Althusser, Laclau and Mouffe). Regarding methodology, qualitative method, such as focused interview is applied. This research shows that women often negotiate with the dominant reading or dominant discourse of soap operas, and decode the preferred ideas and meanings of the text in another, even opposite, way.