Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
mobile telephony in the country and the simultane-
ous reluctance of Greek people to use other ICTs
such as computers and the Internet, it is useful to
briefly present a historical and literature-based
perspective on Greece. This perspective can shed
some light on the striking history of technology
diffusion in Greece as presented by relevant
analyses of the 'semi-periphery' paradigm of the
country (Mouzelis, 1986).
Greece has been categorised as a country of
the 'semi-periphery' since it has been marked by
'early parliamentarism' and 'late-late industrialisa-
tion' (Mouzelis, 1986). These historical conditions
have determined the country's overall course and
specifically contributed to the creation of a weak
and state-dependent civil society. The weakness,
inactivity and clientelistic state-dependency of the
Greek civil society have led to the closely associ-
ated traits of individualism and strong patriotism in
Greek society (i.e. a dismissive attitude to anything
non-Hellenic) (Lyrintzis, 1984; Mouzelis, 1995;
Mouzelis and Pagoulatos, 2002; Patmesidou,
2000 & 1996; Sotiropoulos, 1996). Put together,
this blend of cultural traits and elements of 'col-
lective' living in the country has created genuine
negativism regarding anything new, technologi-
cal and other (Voulgaris and Sotiropoulos, 2002)
which might upset the established order of life
and culture in the country.
As regards new technologies and ICTs in
particular, the only exception seems to be mobile
telephony since mobile telephony has been ap-
propriate for the extroverted lifestyle of Greek
people, allowing them to socialise and demon-
strate their communicative and sociability skills.
Mobile telephony appears to be more appealing
than technologies which do not contribute to so-
ciability and social acceptance. In a way, mobile
technology is considered as an alternative for the
Internet in Greece, while in countries like the UK
e-mail and written speech can be regarded as the
prevalent means of communication and exchange.
In this sense, Greece differs, for instance, from the
Finnish information society model (Castells and
Himanen, 2002) and other models especially in
the West and North of Europe where technologi-
cal development and diffusion have been firmly
encouraged by a strong sense of national identity,
collectiveness and citizenship, driving ordinary
people to adopt a generally positive attitude to
new technologies.
Although this chapter does not allow space
for a detailed presentation of these history-based
claims of the Greek context, it is worth saying that
so far no empirical research tests these claims and
makes them more comprehensible and tangible,
especially with regard to the dissimilar reception
of mobile telephony and the Internet in Greece.
In other words, there is a lack of research into
the ways in which mobile telephony in Greece
can be distinguished from other ICTs and how its
high popularity can be concretely explained by
considering that Greek society is resistant to the
development and integration of new technologies
into everyday life.
SOCIAL CULTURE AND
MOBILE PHONES IN GREECE:
EMPIRICAL REFLECTIONS
This section attempts to demonstrate how the
above statistics- and history-based insights can be
construed and translated in today's socio-cultural
context of Greece. This section identifies the rea-
sons driving the popularity of mobile telephony
and the contrastingly low diffusion rates of Internet
and computer technologies in Greece by reporting
on interviews with elite actors and focus groups
of ordinary people in the country.
Research Design
The elite actors' interviews and focus groups
constituted the first and third steps, respectively,
of a project that examined the drivers of digital
divides in Greece.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search