ABSTRACT
Media have close links with family life: There is a wealth of research evidence that, after the stage of early adoption by media “pioneers,” their economic future depends on successful integration into domestic routines. Hoggart’s (1957) seminal study of the working classes and mass entertainment showed how popular newspapers relate to the daily life and values of the people for whom they are produced. Frith (1983) and Moores (1988) discussed how integration of radio has gone through an evolving process of domestication, and Bausinger (1984) or Silverstone and Hirsch (1992) demonstrated the same for other information technologies. Other recent studies in telecommunications stressed the major role the telephone plays in the regulation of intergenerational relationships (Segalen, 1999) and how much its use depends on family composition and evolves with the life cycle— in particular, whether or not users are in a couple relationship (Smoreda & Licoppe, 1997). Studies with an historical focus remind us that forms of domestic integration are heavily influenced also by differential modes of appropriation in different social settings. For example, in working-class rural settings, reading books aloud during family evenings remained a collective activity long after reading had evolved into a lonely, silent practice in bourgeois settings (Chartier, 1996).
