Onderzoeksartikel

De telefoon in het dagelijks leven: naar een sociale theorie van telefonie

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Abstract

It is remarkable how little attention social scientists in the past have paid to telephony as a social phenomenon. Communication scientists for example have very strongly focused on means of communications like television, radio and press, but the very popular telephone seems to have escaped their attention. In this article the authors try to establish a social theory of telephony. Four building blocks for such a theory are developed. First, telephony is conceptualized as a phenomenon with three different types of functions: political, social and economic. Second, telephone is defined as a ‘space adjusting technology’ and - third - as a ‘technology of freedom’. The fourth building block is the idea that telephony is the simultaneous exchange of information and attention between the calling and the called party. In this exchange all kinds of inequalities in ‘phone power’ do occur. The new telephone feature of ‘calling line identification’ could be used to restore the power balance between communication partners in a telephone call.

How to Cite:

Van Cuilenburg, J. & Slaa, P., (1993) “De telefoon in het dagelijks leven: naar een sociale theorie van telefonie”, Massacommunicatie : Wetenschappelijk Kwartaaltijdschrift voor Communicatie en Informatie 21(3), 178–195.