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ICTs in the Contemporary World seminar
Families without borders: Mobile phones, connectedness and work-home divisions
Judy Wajcman
Australian National University and London Business School
Tuesday 17 June, 2008
3.00 - 5.00 p.m.
Fifth Floor, Tower One
This talk examines the widespread proposition that the mobile phone dissolves the boundaries that separate work and home, extending the reach of work. It analyses data derived from a purpose-designed survey to study social practices surrounding mobile phone use. The key components of the survey investigated here are a questionnaire and a log of phone calls retrieved from respondents’ handsets. Rather than being primarily a tool of work extension, or even a tool that facilitates greater work-family balance, we show that the main purpose of mobile phone calls is to maintain continuing connections with family and friends. Our findings suggest that individuals exert control over the extent to which calls invade their personal time, actively encouraging deeper contacts with intimates.
Professor Judy Wajcman is at the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, and is a Research Fellow of the Oxford Internet Institute. She is currently a Visiting Professor at London Business School. She has been a Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics. Her books include The Social Shaping of Technology, Feminism Confronts Technology, Managing Like A Man: Women and Men in Corporate Management, TechnoFeminism and The Politics of Working Life. She is a co-editor of the Handbook of Science and Technology Studies: Third edition.
Please note places will be available on a first-come-first-serve basis - registration is not required.
For any further queries regarding this seminar or to request information about future events please contact Frances White, Research Coordinator
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