Portable Communities: The Social Dynamics of Online and Mobile Connectedness [Hardcover]

Mary Chayko (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0791475999 | ISBN-13: 978-0791475997 | Publication Date: October 9, 2008

Looks at the social implications of having constant access to others through cell phones, wireless computers, and other electronic devices.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"I blog, text, IM, email, and I don't like to be without my cell phone or have to shut it off--even in a theater. Let's put it this way, my `connections' are more important than whatever I'm doing that might force me to shut my cell phone off." -- A Member of a Portable Community

In contemporary American life, community has become a portable phenomenon--you can "get it to go" wherever and whenever it is desired at the push of a button, mouse, or keyboard. In Portable Communities, sociologist Mary Chayko examines the social dynamics and implications of having access to countless others at any time. Teeming with the observations of people who blog, email, instant message, game, and chat on cell phones, wireless computers, and other portable devices, the book captures the appeal and the excitement, the challenges and the complexities, of online and mobile connectedness. Chayko considers some of the external dynamics that emerge as these communities resonate within the larger society--constant availability, social interaction that is more controlled and controllable, and new opportunities for self-expression, creativity, and even voyeurism. She also provides a unique view of shifts in the social landscape, from diminished privacy to lack of technological access for all and points the way toward needed social and political change.

"Portable Communities is the first book to clearly identify the importance of mobile media in the evolution of new forms of social relations. Anyone interested in matters of online community, identity, and social media should read this absolutely terrific book." -- Steven G. Jones, editor of CyberSociety: Computer-Mediated Communication and Community and CyberSociety 2.0: Revisiting Computer-Mediated Communication and Community, and founder, Association of Internet Researchers

"This book addresses how advances in technology are altering the form and content of social relationships. It is THE central question sociologists must address in the coming decades." -- Rebecca G. Adams, coeditor of Deadhead Social Science: You Ain't Gonna Learn What You Don't Want to Know

"In the old days, we had to travel to our friends, families, and social networks. Now, Mary Chayko shows us, we take our networks with us, connecting by text, voice, and video wherever we--and they--are. Chayko's timely and fascinating book provides a guide to the new world of `communities to go.'" -- Barry Wellman, coeditor of The Internet in Everyday Life and Director, NetLab, University of Toronto

"In this fascinating volume, Mary Chayko explores the way people use their communication technologies to produce conviviality and connections. She insightfully captures people playfully and seriously engaging their online and mobile communities, and she shows how ordinary physical limits are transcended to create rich worlds of meaning and interaction." -- James E. Katz, author of Magic in the Air: Mobile Communication and the Transformation of Social Life and Director, Center for Mobile Communication Studies, Rutgers University

About the Author

Mary Chayko is Professor of Sociology at the College of Saint Elizabeth and the author of Connecting: How We Form Social Bonds and Communities in the Internet Age, also published by SUNY Press.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 306 pages
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr (October 9, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791475999
• ISBN-13: 978-0791475997
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,892,885 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes Social Sense of New Forms of Electronic Communication, May 23, 2011

By 

James W. Russell (Willimantic, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Portable Communities: The Social Dynamics of Online and Mobile Connectedness (Paperback)

Mary Chayko has written a fascinating analysis of how the new forms of electronic communication (emails, cell phones, texting, Facebook, etc.) have opened up new forms of social interaction--forms that may seem baffling to those who have not yet adopted them.

She shows how they allow different ways to communicate. People who meet online, for example, relate in terms of the verbal contents of the messages rather than being initially swayed by the superficial physical appearances of the others.

The new forms of communication have allowed communities, in the sociological sense of the term, to develop and maintain themselves where formerly not possible. High school friends, for example, can keep in contact long after graduation and moving far apart from each other. For sure, people could write letter to do so in the past. But now with the new forms of communication, maintaining contact is easier and instantaneous. The same goes for creating networks of people interested in similar issues.

To use a concept from Emile Durkheim, the classic sociological theorist, the new forms of communication have allowed an increase in social density because people despite being distant from each other are now able to easily communicate and interact with each other. The new forms of communication indeed underpin much of the forces of globalization.

Rather than just being dazzled by--and, for many, becoming addicted to--the new gadgetry, Chayko in a highly original account has explored the social meaning of this transformation in forms of communication.

This is a book for anyone who wants to make social sense of this technological revolution in forms of communication.