Towards a sociology of the mobile phone
McGuigan, J. (2005). Towards a Sociology of the Mobile Phone. Human Technology, Volume 1 (1), pp. 45-57. URN:NBN:fi:jyu-2005125. Retrieved from http://www.humantechnology.jyu.fi
Authors
Date
2005Copyright
© 2005 Jim McGuigan and the Agora Center, University of Jyväskylä
Use of the mobile phone is an immensely significant social and cultural
phenomenon. However, market hype and utopian dreams greatly exaggerate its importance.
The fundamental issue for sociology is the process of change. Bound up with contemporary
issues of change, the mobile phone is a prime object for sociological attention both at the
macro and micro levels of analysis. This article considers the strengths and weaknesses of
four methods for studying the sociality of the mobile phone (social demography; political
economy; conversation, discourse and text analysis; and ethnography), the different kinds of
knowledge they produce, and the interests they represent. Recent ethnographic research on
the mobile phone, particularly motivated by issues around the uncertain transition from 2G
to the 3G technology, has examined the actual experience of routine use. Interpretative
research is now supplementing purely instrumental research, thereby giving a much more
nuanced understanding of mobile communications. Critical research on the mobile phone, of
which there is little, is beginning to ask skeptical questions that should be pursued further.
...
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University of Jyväskylä, Agora CenterISSN Search the Publication Forum
1795-6889Keywords
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http://www.humantechnology.jyu.fiMetadata
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