The cheap mobile phone is arguably the most significant personal communications device in history. In India, where caste hierarchy has reinforced power for generations, the disruptive potential of the mobile phone is even more striking than elsewhere. In 2001, India had 35 million telephones, only four million of them mobiles. Ten years later, it had more than 800 million phone subscribers; more than 95 per cent were mobile phones. In a decade, communications in India have been transformed by a device that can be shared by fisherfolk in Kerala, boatmen in Banaras, great capitalists in Mumbai and power-wielding politicians and bureaucrats in New Delhi. Village councils banned unmarried girls from having mobile phones. Families debated whether new brides should surrender them. Cheap mobile phones became photo albums, music machines and radios. Religious images and uplifting messages flooded tens of millions of phones each day. Pornographers and criminals found a tantalising new tool. In politics, organisations with cadres of true believers exploited a resource infinitely more effective than telegrams, postcards and the printing press for carrying messages to workers, followers and voters. Jeffrey and Doron focus on three groups - controllers: the bureaucrats, politicians and capitalists who wrestle over control of radio frequency spectrum; servants: the marketers, agents, technicians, tower-builders, repairers and second-hand dealers who carry mobile phones to the masses; and users: the politicians, activists, businesses and households that adapt the mobile phone to their needs. The book probes the whole universe of the mobile phone - from the contests of great capitalists and governments to control radio frequency spectrum, to the ways ordinary people build the troublesome and addictive device into their daily lives.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
C Hurst & Co Publishers LTD
ISBN-13
9781849043137
eBay Product ID (ePID)
177024477
Product Key Features
Subject Area
Family Sociology
Author
Robin Jeffrey, Assa Doron
Publication Name
The Great Indian Phone Book: How Cheap Mobile Phones Change Business, Politics and Daily Life
Format
Paperback
Language
English
Subject
Engineering & Technology, Science, Anthropology
Publication Year
2013
Type
Textbook
Number of Pages
256 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height
225mm
Item Width
145mm
Additional Product Features
Title_Author
Assa Doron, Robin Jeffrey
Country/Region of Manufacture
United Kingdom
Condition
Brand New. A new, unread, unused book in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages. See the seller’s listing for full details. See all item conditions
Quantity
5 available
Item Number
143336332409
Weight
505grams
Subjects
History, Countries & Regions, Asia
Pages
256
Size
14.5 x 2.3 x 22.5 cm
Book Title
The Great Indian Phone Book: How Cheap Mobile Phones Change Busi
Publication Date
15/09/2013
ISBN
9781849043137
Publication Year
2013
Type
Textbook
Format
Paperback
Subject Area
Family Sociology
Language
English
Publication Name
The Great Indian Phone Book: How Cheap Mobile Phones Change Business, Politics and Daily Life