Cellular Phones, Public Fears, and a Culture of Precaution

The first account of the health panic surrounding cellular phones that developed in the 1990s.

Adam Burgess (Author)

9780521817592, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 18 August 2003

312 pages, 17 b/w illus. 1 table
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.63 kg

'… Adam Burgess' important book is the first major work to examine the history and dynamics of the scare.' New Media and Society

This is the first account of the health panic surrounding cellular phones that developed in the mid-1990s. Treating the issue as more 'social construction' than evident scientific problem, it tells the story of how this originally American anxiety diffused internationally, having an even bigger impact in countries such as Italy. Burgess highlights the contrasting reactions to the issue ranging from positive indifference in Finland to those such as the UK where precautionary measures were taken. These differences are located within the emergence of a precautionary culture driven by institutional insecurity that first appeared in the US and is now most evident in Europe. Anxieties about cell phone radiowaves are also situated historically in the very different reactions to technologies such as x-rays and in the more similar 'microwave suspicions' about television. In addition, Burgess outlines a history and sociology of what is, despite media-driven anxieties, a spectacularly successful device.

1. Introductory chapter: themes, influences
phones and risk
2. The mobile 'revolution'
3. Mobile discontents and the origins of microwave fears
4. Radiating uncertainty
5. Diffusing anxiety: international dissemination and national responses to mobile fears
6. The culture of precaution
7. Problems of precaution and responsibility.

Subject Areas: Media, information & communication industries [KNT], Political science & theory [JPA], Sociology & anthropology [JH], Communication studies [GTC]