Mobile phones affect every aspect of our personal and professional lives. They have transformed social practices and changed the way we do business, yet surprisingly little serious academic work has been done on them. This book studies the impact of the mobile phone on contemporary society from a social scientific perspective. Providing a comprehensive overview of mobile phones and social interaction, it comprises an introduction covering the key issues, a series of unique national studies and a final section examining specific issues.
Author(s): James E. Katz, Mark Aakhus
Edition: 1
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 416
Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Figures......Page 11
Tables......Page 12
Editors......Page 14
Contributors......Page 15
Preface and acknowledgments......Page 22
Greater than gods......Page 27
A mind- and society-altering technology......Page 28
Scholarly lacuna......Page 29
More popular than TV......Page 30
Framing the mobile phone......Page 32
Folk framing......Page 33
Expert framing......Page 35
A new perspective and a new term: the convergence of the folks and experts......Page 36
Looking forward......Page 37
References......Page 39
Part I Mobile communication: national and comparative perspectives......Page 41
Introduction......Page 45
Ownership......Page 46
Work and leisure......Page 48
Public and private......Page 49
The mobile phone and Finnish speech culture......Page 50
Mobile phones, emotions and lifestyle......Page 53
Summing up......Page 54
References......Page 55
3 Israel: chutzpah and chatter in the Holy Land......Page 56
Cellular telephony in Israel: a pattern of growth......Page 57
Israelis and technology: a love story......Page 61
Patterns of use......Page 62
The social setting for interpreting mobile phone usage in Israel......Page 64
References......Page 66
Introduction......Page 68
Is the mobile phone seen as a communicative instrument?......Page 69
Is the mobile phone really a mobile technology?......Page 70
Is the mobile phone a really portable technology?......Page 72
Is the mobile phone a technology of intimacy?......Page 74
The reasons for the success of the mobile phone......Page 79
The mobile phone and ethical and aesthetic dimensions......Page 82
Conclusions......Page 86
References......Page 87
Introduction......Page 89
Thesis......Page 91
Conditions for fast diffusion......Page 92
Korean social characteristics......Page 94
Life after work and the use of mobile phones......Page 96
Forming a new order?......Page 98
Appendix......Page 99
References......Page 104
Introduction......Page 106
The United States mobile phone communication market......Page 107
Current US mobile phone users......Page 108
US mobile phone non-users......Page 111
Issues of symbolic behavior in public space......Page 115
Questions for researchers......Page 116
Conclusion......Page 117
References......Page 118
Scope and data......Page 120
The cellular phone and the management of distant phone interactions: of trust and negotiated local contexts......Page 121
De-contextualization effects of the mobile phone......Page 122
Temporal synchronizations: from disclosing and anticipating bits of schedule to the tracing of mobile phone users......Page 128
Synchronization, coordination and commitment: the building of trust and bonds in cellular phone interactions......Page 131
Conclusion......Page 133
References......Page 135
Methodology......Page 136
The set-up of the research......Page 137
Realm 3: environment and locus of control......Page 138
Mobility......Page 139
Reasons for the use of communication devices......Page 141
Cultural differences......Page 143
The relation of perceptions to the adopter curve......Page 147
Changing perceptions of usefulness and necessity......Page 148
Situation......Page 149
Conclusions and discussion......Page 150
References......Page 151
9 Bulgaria: mobile phones as post-communist cultural icons......Page 152
Part II Private talk: interpersonal relations and micro-behavior......Page 163
Introduction......Page 165
Method......Page 166
Framework for the analysis......Page 167
Micro-coordination......Page 168
Mobile communication and micro-coordination......Page 169
Adolescence, contemporary society and accessibility......Page 173
Instrumental use of the mobile telephone......Page 181
Expressive use of the mobile telephone......Page 184
The mobile telephone as an element in the presentation of the self......Page 188
Conclusion......Page 192
References......Page 193
Introduction......Page 196
Purpose......Page 197
Data......Page 198
Informants......Page 199
School and hobbies......Page 201
Leisure......Page 202
Message collecting culture......Page 203
Circulating chain messages......Page 205
Collective reading and composing of messages......Page 207
Relationships......Page 208
Language......Page 209
Personal text message repertoires......Page 210
New cultural artifacts......Page 213
Teens, text and mobile phones......Page 214
References......Page 217
Introduction......Page 219
Thesis......Page 220
Accessibility: a harbinger of the deregulation of civil coexistence......Page 221
The primacy of private life......Page 223
Criteria of social success......Page 224
Mobile phone conversations: from formal to informal......Page 226
Telephone sociability: from the dispersed social network to the inner circle......Page 228
Conclusion......Page 230
References......Page 231
13 Mobile phone consumption and concepts of personhood......Page 232
Half full and half empty......Page 235
Individuation and selfhood......Page 237
Multiple ways of consuming?......Page 242
References......Page 246
Part III Public performance: social groups and structures......Page 249
14 The challenge of absent presence......Page 253
The expansion and implications of absent presence......Page 254
Dangerous liaisons......Page 257
Horizontal relationships......Page 258
Humans without qualities......Page 259
The new floating world......Page 260
Retrenchment and reconfiguration: the cellular phone......Page 262
Perils of prophecy......Page 265
References......Page 267
15 From mass society to perpetual contact: models of communication technologies in social context......Page 268
Mass society......Page 269
Particularizing technologies and mass surveillance......Page 270
Creating the infrastructure of mass surveilance......Page 272
From mass society to perpetual contact......Page 274
Appendectomy vs. drug addiction......Page 276
Embryo vs. a random walk......Page 277
Niche-dweller vs. weed......Page 278
References......Page 280
The mobile phone in teen identity and subculture......Page 281
Independent variables......Page 283
Mobile phones and social class......Page 285
Mobile phones and gender......Page 287
Mobile phones and academic self-esteem......Page 289
Mobile phones and digital competence......Page 291
The mobile phone as a class phenomenon......Page 293
Gendering of mobile phones......Page 294
The mobile phone as digital capital......Page 295
Acknowledgment......Page 296
Appendix......Page 297
References......Page 298
Main results......Page 300
Description of the barangay......Page 301
Comparative prices of phone use......Page 302
Use of phones......Page 303
Comparison with expectations......Page 308
References......Page 309
18 Beginnings in the telephone......Page 310
References......Page 324
Span of consequences......Page 327
Tackling theoretical issues......Page 329
Articulating the neologism Apparatgeist......Page 331
The logic of perpetual contact......Page 333
The pertinence of the Apparatgeist theory......Page 338
Conclusion......Page 340
References......Page 343
Appendixes......Page 345
A On “Opening Sequencing”: a framing statement......Page 347
References......Page 350
B Opening sequencing......Page 352
The problem of availability......Page 356
Summons–answer sequences......Page 359
Non-terminality of summons–answer (SA) sequences......Page 363
Conditional relevance in SA sequences......Page 369
Problematic answers to summonses......Page 384
Acknowledgments......Page 395
Notes......Page 396
References......Page 409
Index......Page 412
