TY - JOUR
T1 - Mobile phones as cultural tools for identity construction among college students in Oman, Ukraine, and the U.S.
AU - Gordon, Cynthia
AU - Al Zidjaly, Najma
AU - Tovares, Alla V.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2017/6/1
Y1 - 2017/6/1
N2 - This study explores the relationship between mobile phones and users’ identities in three cultures that differ geographically, historically, and culturally: Oman, an Islamic social monarchy in the Arabian Gulf; Ukraine, a post-Soviet Eastern European country; and the United States of America. A Likert-style questionnaire that also included open-ended questions was distributed to 393 college students to elicit answers on how they relate to their mobile phones. Findings indicate that mobile phone users of different nationalities and genders perceive and use their mobile phones differently for self-expression and identity display, with Omani women most likely to orient to their phones as identity-relevant, and Ukrainian men least likely to do so. Americans showed more mixed results, with American women more prone to treat their mobile phones as objects that relate to identity expression. Further, while Ukrainians and Americans tended to view their mobile phones primarily through the lens of utility, Omanis tended to take a more affective/romantic perspective. To explain these findings, we demonstrate, following Al Zidjaly and Gordon (2012), that mobile phones are productively understood as what Scollon (2001) calls cultural tools, or the material and symbolic means people use in culturally- and historically-enabled and -constrained ways to accomplish actions such as identity display.
AB - This study explores the relationship between mobile phones and users’ identities in three cultures that differ geographically, historically, and culturally: Oman, an Islamic social monarchy in the Arabian Gulf; Ukraine, a post-Soviet Eastern European country; and the United States of America. A Likert-style questionnaire that also included open-ended questions was distributed to 393 college students to elicit answers on how they relate to their mobile phones. Findings indicate that mobile phone users of different nationalities and genders perceive and use their mobile phones differently for self-expression and identity display, with Omani women most likely to orient to their phones as identity-relevant, and Ukrainian men least likely to do so. Americans showed more mixed results, with American women more prone to treat their mobile phones as objects that relate to identity expression. Further, while Ukrainians and Americans tended to view their mobile phones primarily through the lens of utility, Omanis tended to take a more affective/romantic perspective. To explain these findings, we demonstrate, following Al Zidjaly and Gordon (2012), that mobile phones are productively understood as what Scollon (2001) calls cultural tools, or the material and symbolic means people use in culturally- and historically-enabled and -constrained ways to accomplish actions such as identity display.
KW - Cultural practices
KW - Cultural tools
KW - Gendered practices
KW - Identity
KW - Mobile phones
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85016465722&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85016465722&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.dcm.2017.01.006
DO - 10.1016/j.dcm.2017.01.006
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85016465722
SN - 2211-6958
VL - 17
SP - 9
EP - 19
JO - Discourse, Context and Media
JF - Discourse, Context and Media
ER -