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Cellular Phones, Public Fears and a Culture of Precaution

Burgess, Adam (2003) Cellular Phones, Public Fears and a Culture of Precaution. Cambridge University Press, New York, 312 pp. ISBN 0-521-52082-7. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:319)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.

Abstract

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.

Item Type: Book
Uncontrolled keywords: cell phones mobile health risk
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Depositing User: Samantha Osborne
Date Deposited: 19 Dec 2007 18:10 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:39 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/319 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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