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The Consumption of Technology in Everyday Life: Car, Telephone, and Television in Sweden and America in Comparative-Historical Perspective

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  • Ralph Schroeder

Abstract

This essay examines the consumption of technology in everyday life by considering three major technologies - car, telephone, and television. The argument attempts to go beyond technological determinism, which is typically not grounded in the study of everyday life, as well as beyond social shaping/social constructivist views that are tied to particular times and places, and thus unable to recognize broader and more long-term patterns of change. To make this argument, Sweden and America, two countries for which detailed evidence is available for different periods of time, including several studies of ‘typical’ small towns, are compared in historical perspective. In addition to synthesizing this evidence, the essay draws on neo-functionalist and Weberian ideas about technology and culture to argue that there is an overall pattern whereby the consumption of technology in everyday life simultaneously homogenizes leisure and sociable activities and at the same time makes them more diverse.

Suggested Citation

  • Ralph Schroeder, 2002. "The Consumption of Technology in Everyday Life: Car, Telephone, and Television in Sweden and America in Comparative-Historical Perspective," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 7(4), pages 45-59, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:7:y:2002:i:4:p:45-59
    DOI: 10.5153/sro.745
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Braun, Ingo, 1993. "Technik-Spiralen: vergleichende Studien zur Technik im Alltag," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 122915, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Hossain, Md. Motaher, 2010. "Role of technology in consumption and everyday life in rural Bangladesh," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 130-136.
    2. Haenssgen, Marco J. & Leepreecha, Prasit & Sakboon, Mukdawan & Chu, Ta-Wei & Vlaev, Ivo & Auclair, Elizabeth, 2023. "The impact of conservation and land use transitions on the livelihoods of indigenous peoples: A narrative review of the northern Thai highlands," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).

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