Mobile Communication and Low-Skilled Migrants' Acculturation to Cosmopolitan Singapore by Aricat Rajiv George;Ling Rich; & Rich Ling

Author:Aricat, Rajiv George;Ling, Rich; & Rich Ling [Aricat, Rajiv George & Ling, Rich]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic
Published: 2018-04-06T00:00:00+00:00

Summary

As a first step towards answering the research question “How do acculturation types relate to mobile phone appropriation types among migrants, when defined in non-essential and non-universal terms?” we first analyzed the data based on the circular model of mobile phone appropriation. The reader may recall that the circular model integrates “functional uses” of the phone with the “symbolic functions” that are ascribed to the ownership and use of the technology. Meta-communication, or communication on communication, provides the link between the two aspects of the appropriation process, which are “functional uses” (or, “usage and handling”) and “symbolic functions” (or, “prestige and social identity”). Further, as a step towards achieving greater order and comprehension in data, we identified four ideal types of mobile phone appropriation. These were the convenience seeker, the experimenter, the group communicator, and the austere user. These types of users differed in their economic resources, motivation, and skills to move on to advanced features of the phone or Web 2.0, the recognition they have among peers and within informal groups, and their ability to improvise and innovate on issues related to technology. The next step is to identify acculturation types, which is followed by linking the appropriation/user types with the acculturation types. These are attempted in the following chapter.

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