Civilizing the Information Society: Emotionalization, Technology, and the Self in Etiquette Literature, 1922-2014

• In Event: 082 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session I
  In Refereed Roundtable: A. Table 01. Cultural Sociology

Abstract

Theorists of the Information/Network Society observed that information and communication technologies were revolutionizing systems of production, and subsequently changing the face of work and the pursuit of leisure (Bell 1976; Castells 1996), and early proponents of computers and internet technologies echoed their optimism (Negroponte 1995, Rheingold 1992). While these authors depicted a society in the midst of rapid and widespread change, they either carefully avoided (Bell 1976, Castells 1996) or presented oversimplified observations of the subjective and emotional consequences of these changes, and assumed the largely unproblematic accommodation of these technologies into everyday life. Through an analysis of etiquette and advice literature from the 20th through the 21st century, this paper illustrates the halting and often contentious ways the Information Society was “civilized” into everyday life in the United States. By charting (1) the ways that these technologies have been framed as problematic for everyday living, and (2) the changes in the normative prescriptions for their use, I observe the emotionalization of both problems and prescriptions for ICT use, and the increasing salience of a romantic understanding of communication.

Author

• Julia B. Ticona, University of Virginia