Connections: Social and Cultural Studies of the Telephone in American Life

by Katz,James E.

• ISBN13: 9780765809957
• ISBN10: 0765809958
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2003-02-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Perhaps no other technology has done so much to so many, but been studied by so few, as the telephone. Even as its physical size diminishes, the telephone is becoming more important. In Connections, now available in paperback, James E. Katz gives greater visibility to this important element in modern life.Katz examines how the telephone reveals gender relations in a way not predicted by feminist theories, how it can be used to protect and invade personal privacy, and how people harness telephone answering machines to their advantage. Katz's inquiry reports on obscene phone calls, the abuses of caller-ID technology, and attitudes toward voice mail. National data about cellular telephones are presented to show the extent to which beepers and car phones have become status symbols.Katz ranges from microsocial interaction to macrosocial theory, and from the family and personal levels of organization to that of large-scale industrial bureaucracies. The result of this investigation is a compellingmosaic spanning sociology and psychology, and organization and communication studies. These arresting portraits will offer profound insight to historians, students of American culture, and those concerned about the nature and direction of the emerging information society.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(6)
Part I: Social Change and Quality of Life
Social and Organizational Consequences of Wireless Communication	7	(34)
Mobile Communications: Theories, Data, and Potential Impact	41	(34)
Philip Aspden
Attitudes toward Voice Mail and Telephone Answering Machines	75	(38)
Philip Aspden
Warren Reich
Corporate Culture Transformation in the Telephone Companies	113	(34)
Part II: Interpersonal Relations in a Social Context
Caller-ID, Privacy, and Social Processes	147	(62)
Understanding Communication Privacy: Unlisted Telephone Subscribers	209	(22)
Obscene Telephone Calls to Women: Empirical and Theoretical Dimensions	231	(28)
Gender Relations and Telephone Calls: A Survey of Obscene Telephone Calls to Males and Females	259	(22)
Part III: Social Dimensions of Telephone Service Perceptions
Consumer Spending Behavior	281	(36)
Carl Batt
Slamming Back: Customer Choice and Retention in Local Telephone Markets	317	(12)
Philip Aspden
Part IV: Concluding Thoughts
Industrial Engineering versus Individual Ingenuity	329	(28)
Index	357