Mobile Phones: Like any Other ICT? - Adoption, Usage, and Global Impact of Broadband Technologies - page 93

the Internet in societies such as Greek society.
Socio-cultural indicators in particular allow one
to note how people negotiate the meaning, value
and use of particular technology (-ies), making
ICTs look like an extremely diverse and often
uneven technological and communication domain.
In this sense, it is argued that the distinctiveness
of mobile telephony can not only be indicated
in technocratic terms but also on the basis of its
establishment and penetration in socio-cultural
contexts which do not equally favour generally
popular ICTs such as the Internet.
The chapter justifies the interest in compar-
ing mobile telephony to other ICTs along with
the focus on the particular context of Greece by
examining the exceptionally high penetration
rates of mobile telephony in contrast to the low
penetration of Internet technologies in the country
and by attempting to explain the dissimilar way
mobile phones have been received on the grounds
of socio-cultural factors. In what follows, an ac-
count of the literature examining mobile phones
and other ICTs from a socio-cultural perspective
is offered, thus highlighting relevant literature
gaps and developments. Then, a brief account
is provided of the Greek information society
and the divergent dissemination directions that
mobile telephony and the Internet have taken in
the country. This case-focused discussion paves
the way for a historically grounded exploration
of the socio-cultural parameters that seem to have
played an important role in how Greek people have
received and integrated these two different and
simultaneously so similar communication tech-
nologies into their lives. The empirical findings
obtained in qualitative research are then reported
and discussed. These findings were obtained from
interviews with elite actors and focus groups of
ordinary people in Greece, and provide some
concrete and diverse insights into how and why
mobile telephony in the country differs from other
ICTs such as the Internet. The chapter concludes by
summarising the findings and their significance as

well as noting areas where more work and richer
conclusions are required.

BACKGROUND: MOBILES PHONES
AND OTHER ICTS FROM A SOCIO-
CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

A significant number of studies has looked at the
role of socio-cultural milieus in ICTs (Cathelat,
1993; Mediagruppe, 2000; Klamer et al., 2000;
SevenOneMedia, 2002) and stressed their impor-
tance for explaining not only the particular shapes
and aspects of ICTs but also their appropriation
by users in concrete socio-cultural contexts. More
specifically, the literature has attempted to examine
the positive role of social values, such as values
of openness, in how ICTs are used, adopted and
integrated into people's lives (Hofstede, 1980;
Trompenaars, 1993; Rogers, 1995; Thomas,
1995; Thomas and Mante-Meijer, 2001; Smoreda
and Thomas, 2001; Mante-Meijer, 2002). The
literature has also looked at the opposite role that
resistant elements of social culture and associated
introversion and backwardness can play, leading
to the slow and difficult development of particular
technological artefacts and the limited appropria-
tion of technology in people's lives (Mokyr, 1990
& 1992). Media technologies and ICTs are often
among the technologies (e.g. biotechnology,
nuclear technology etc) which are opposed by
dominant resistant cultures in particular socio-
cultural contexts (Bauer, 1995).
Mobile telephony is an ICT that is increas-
ingly analysed in a socio-cultural framework and
from various perspectives (e.g. texting, mobiles
at work, mobiles and health, mobiles in public
and private spaces etc). It draws the attention of
a growing number of researchers who examine it
as a socially and culturally embedded technology,
which entails significant implications for social
life in general (Castells, 2007; Goggin, 2006; Had-
don 2003 & 2004; Haddon et al., 2002; Harper
et al., 2005; Katz and Aakhus, 2008; Ling, 2004;