The Moral Economy of Mobile Phones: Pacific Islands Perspectives

The

moral economy of mobile phones implies a field of shifting relations among

consumers, companies and state actors, all of whom have their own ideas about

what is good, fair and just. These ideas inform the ways in which, for

example, consumers acquire and use mobile phones; companies promote and sell

voice, SMS and data subscriptions; and state actors regulate both everyday

use of mobile phones and market activity around mobile phones. Ambivalence

and disagreement about who owes what to whom is thus an integral feature of

the moral economy of mobile phones. This volume identifies and evaluates the

stakes at play in the moral economy of mobile phones. The six main chapters

consider ethnographic cases from Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Vanuatu. The

volume also includes a brief introduction with background information on the

recent ‘digital revolution’ in these countries and two closing commentaries

that reflect on the significance of the chapters for our understanding of

global capitalism and the contemporary Pacific.