America Calling

A Social History of the Telephone to 1940

Häftad, Engelska, 1994

439 kr

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The telephone looms large in our lives, as ever present in modern societies as cars and television. Claude Fischer presents the first social history of this vital but little-studied technology - how we encountered, tested, and ultimately embraced it with enthusiasm. Using telephone ads, oral histories, telephone industry correspondence, and statistical data, Fischer's work is a colorful exploration of how, when, and why Americans started communicating in this radically new manner. Studying three California communities, Fischer uncovers how the telephone became integrated into the private worlds and community activities of average Americans in the first decades of this century. Women were especially avid in their use, a phenomenon which the industry first vigorously discouraged and then later wholeheartedly promoted. Again and again Fischer finds that the telephone supported a wide-ranging network of social relations and played a crucial role in community life, especially for women, from organizing children's relationships and church activities to alleviating the loneliness and boredom of rural life.Deftly written and meticulously researched, "America Calling" adds an important new chapter to the social history of our nation and illuminates a fundamental aspect of cultural modernism that is integral to contemporary life.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum1994-03-22
Mått152 x 229 x 30 mm
Vikt590 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor424
FörlagUniversity of California Press
ISBN9780520086470

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List of FiguresList of TablesPrefaceCHAPTER ITechnology and Modern LifeCHAPTER 2The Telephone in AmericaCHAPTER 3Educating the PublicCHAPTER 4The Telephone Spreads: National PatternsCHAPTER 5The Telephone Spreads: Local PatternsCHAPTER 6Becoming CommonplaceCHAPTER 7Local Attachment, I89D-I940CHAPTER 8Personal Calls, Personal MeaningsCHAPTER 9ConclusionAPPENDIX ABibliographic EssayAPPENDIX BStatistical Analyses of Telephone and Automobile DistributionAPPENDIX CTelephone Subscription among Iowa Farmers, 1924APPENDIX DSummary of Expenditure Studies by Household Incomeor OccupationAPPENDIX EThe 1918-1919 Cost of Living StudyAPPENDIX FWho Had the Telephone When?APPENDIX GAnalysis of Advertisement DataAPPENDIX HStatistical Analyses for Chapter 7NotesBibliographyIndexPhotograph section follows page 153

"A warning to those who see technology as having clear and far-reaching consequences in American life: Don't use the telephone as an obvious example. From a user-centered view of technological dispersion, the author argues convincingly that the telephone reinforced social and cultural patterns rather than changed them. . . . Well researched, with an excellent bibliography and fascinating endnotes, Fischer's study is likely to be a required purchase for comprehensive collections in sociology, business, and the history of technology. It is accessible, however, to a wider audience because of its readability."