On Emotion and Memories: the Consumption of Mobile Phones as ‘Affective Technology’

• Authors: Sandra Rubia Silva
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

In this article, which is theoretically affiliated to studies of consumption as material culture as developed especially by Miller (1987; 2010), the goal is to analyze the consumption of mobile phones in its interaction with social dynamics related to gender and generation categories. How do the consumption practices related to mobile phones influence the emotions experienced in the relationships between parents and children and between men and women? Drawing from an ethnographic approach, I am investigating which emotional investments the social agents express through the consumption of mobile phones, and I am also considering how emotions change when mediated by the consumption of this mobile technology. Through the analysis, I expect both to highlight the richness and complexity of the material and symbolic dimensions involved in the daily processes of consumption, as well as enlighten the study of consumption practices from a segment that is still poorly studied: the popular groups.

Keywords

EN

consumption; mobile phones; emotions; affective technologies; gender; parent-children relationships

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: International Review of Social Research
• Year: 2012
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 157-172

Dates

published

2012-02-01

online

2015-05-04

Contributors

author

Sandra Rubia Silva

• Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil

References

• Arilha, M. (1998) ‘Homens: entre a ‘zoeira; e a ‘responsabilidade’’ In Arilha, M.; Unbehaum, S. and B. Medrado (eds.) Homens e Masculinidades: Outras Palavras, pp. 51-78. São Paulo: Editora 34.
• Castells, M.; Fernández-Ardèvol, M.; Qiu, J. and A. Sey (2007) Mobile Communication and Society: a Global Perspective. Cambridge: MIT Press.
• Fonseca, C. (2000) Família, Fofoca e Honra: Etnografia de Relações de Gênero e Violência em Grupos Populares. Porto Alegre: Ed. Universidade/UFRGS.
• Fortunati, L. and J. Vincent (2009) ‘Introduction’ In Fortunati, L. and J. Vincent (eds.) Electronic Emotion: the Mediation of Emotion via Information and Communication Technologies, pp. 1-31. Oxford: Peter Lang.
• Horst, H. and D. Miller (2006) The Cell Phone: An anthropology of communication. Oxford: Berg.
• Ito, M., Okabe, D., and M. Matsuda (eds.) (2005) Personal, portable, pedestrian: mobile phones in Japanese life. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
• Lasen, A. ‘Affective technologies: emotions and mobile phones.’ Surrey: The Digital World Research Centre, 2004. Available at: . (Consulted 20 jul. 2010).
• Ling, R. (2004) The Mobile Connection: the cell phone's impact on society. New York: Morgan Kaufman.
• Mauss, M. (1954) The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies. London: Cohen and West.
• Miller, D. (1987) Material Culture and Mass Consumption. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
• Miller, D. (2010) Stuff. Cambridge: Polity.
• Nicolaci-da-Costa, Ana Maria (2006) ‘Celulares: a emergência de um novo tipo de controle materno’. Psicologia & Sociedade, 18, 3: 88-96. Available at: (Consulted 20 January, 2010).
• Silva, Sandra Rubia (2008) ‘Vivendo com celulares: identidade, corpo e sociabilidade nas culturas urbanas’. In Borelli, S. and Freire-Filho, J. (eds). Culturas juvenis no século XXI, pp. 311-331. São Paulo: EDUC.
• Silva, Sandra Rubia (2011) ‘Meu celular é guerreiro: apresentação de si, humanização e relações emotivas no consumo de telefones celulares’. In Lavra, M., Pacheco, J. and M. Toaldo (eds.) Juventude, Consumo & Educação 3: uma perspectiva plural, pp. 175-194. Porto Alegre: Ed. ESPM.
• Teleco. Estatísticas de Celulares no Brasil e no mundo. Teleco: Informações em Telecomunicações, 2010. Available at: (Consulted 14 January, 2012).

Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/irsr-2012-0011