The Mobile Communication Society.

The Mobile Communication Society. A cross-cultural analysis of available evidence on the social uses of wireless communication technology, 2004. By Manuel Castells, Mireia Fernández Ardavol, Jock Linchuan Qiu and Araba Sey (USC)

Abstract
This research report offers an analytical overview of existing research on the social uses of wireless communication technology. It seeks to provide a solid empirical basis for an informed discussion of the social uses and social effects of wireless in Europe, the Asian Pacific and the United States. Major themes explored include the deep connection between wireless communication and the emergence of youth culture, the transformation of language by texting and multimodalty, the growing importance of wireless communication in socio-political mobilization, and changes in the practice of time and space resulting from wireless communication.

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"The structure of the research report presented here is straightforward. We start with a statistical overview of diffusion of wireless communication in the last decade in different areas and countries of the world. Afterwards we provide the aggregate data on patterns of social differentiation in the diffusion of the technology. Then we present an analysis of the social uses and social effects of wireless communication in different domains of human activity, differentiating our synthesis of evidence in the three areas of our study: Europe, the Asian Pacific and the United States. We then enter into the specific consideration of some major themes that have appeared as clearly essential in the course of our research. The first one is the deep connection between wireless communication and the emergence of a youth culture (that leads to what we call a mobile youth culture) in all areas under
our observation. The second is the process of transformation of language by texting and multimodality. The third, is the growing importance of wireless communication in the processes of socio-political mobilization, particularly outside formal politics, a topic that we have considered by focusing on case studies of mobilization in a variety of contexts. The fourth theme, on which we have only limited information but seems to be worth of exploring refers to the changes in the practice of time and space resulting from wireless communication. Finally, we have attempted to summarize
the main trends resulting from our observation in a concluding section that, deliberately, raises more questions than it answers" (9)