Communicating Friendships: a Case Study of Women in an Australian „Seachange‟ Town
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COMMUNICATING FRIENDSHIPS: A CASE STUDY OF WOMEN IN AN AUSTRALIAN „SEACHANGE‟ TOWN A thesis in fulfilment of the requirement of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) written and submitted by Orit Rivka Ben Harush Master of Arts, Tel Aviv University Bachelor of Arts, The Hebrew University Media and Communication Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology Brisbane, Australia 2011 Principal Supervisor: Dr. Christina Spurgeon Associate Supervisor: Dr. Lynda Andrews Communicating friendships: A case study of women in an Australian ‗seachange‘ town Keywords Friendworks; adult women; Australia; across-media communication; mobility; population mobility; seachange communities; communication use; friends; friendships; face-to- face; fixed-telephone; internet; mobile phone; Byron Shire; social network; social support; spatial proximity; women‘s work Page i Communicating friendships: A case study of women in an Australian ‗seachange‘ town Abstract This thesis proposes ‗friendworks‘ as an important sub-group of social networks, comprised of networks of friends. It investigates friendworks of a particular group of adult Australian women as a way of understanding neglected aspects of social networking practices. Friendworks are contextualised to highlight two main themes of interest: population mobility and communication practices. The impact of relocation on individuals, local communities and the wider society is explored through a case study of female friendworks in a seachange community. Research findings point to the importance of friendworks in building and cohering social and emotional support, well-being, belonging and senses of place and community. Different types of communication methods were used by research participants for mediating different kinds of social ties within the friendworks considered here. Communication patterns were influenced by geographical proximity to friends, and the type of social support required of them (emotional, instrumental or companionship). Most findings were consistent with broader social patterns of communication. For example, face-to-face interactions were the dominant and most favoured communication method between local friends, regardless of whether they were weak or strong ties. The fixed-telephone and the internet were commonly in use to maintain old and geographically distant social ties, while mobile phones were used the least among friends in comparison with other communication methods. The key finding of this thesis is that friendworks are an extremely important solid network in contemporary society, providing mooring relations in a mobile world. Paradoxically, however, for women in this study, the mobile phone, which is popularly perceived as a flexible, multi-purpose communication technology for people on the move, was the least versatile of all technologies for maintaining friendworks. The cost of services was the main inhibitor here. The internet was found to be the most versatile communication technology and was used to support various types of social ties: strong, weak, local and distant. This thesis also highlights the value of the concept of friendworks as well as networks for communication research and policy investigating individuals‘ motivations and practices. Page iii Communicating friendships: A case study of women in an Australian ‗seachange‘ town Table of Contents Keywords .................................................................................................................................................i Abstract ................................................................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................... v List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................ix List of Tables .........................................................................................................................................xi Glossary of abbreviations and acronyms .............................................................................................. xii Statement of original authorship ......................................................................................................... xiii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................... xv 1 CHAPTER 1: FROM FIXED-PHONES AND SOCIAL NETWORKS TO MOBILITY AND FRIENDWORKS ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 What is the research in this thesis about? ..................................................................................... 3 1.2 The conceptual framework........................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Women‘s work ............................................................................................................................. 5 1.4 The research questions ................................................................................................................. 6 1.5 Methodology ................................................................................................................................ 7 1.6 Thesis main findings .................................................................................................................... 8 1.6.1 Seachanging ...................................................................................................................... 8 1.6.2 Friendworks ...................................................................................................................... 9 1.6.3 Communication within friendworks ............................................................................... 10 1.6.4 Women and mobile phones............................................................................................. 11 1.7 The significance of the study ..................................................................................................... 12 1.8 Thesis outline ............................................................................................................................. 14 2 CHAPTER 2: FRIENDWORKS IN THE NETWORK SOCIETY ............................................ 17 2.1 The network society ................................................................................................................... 18 2.1.1 The space of flows .......................................................................................................... 21 2.2 Social networks .......................................................................................................................... 22 2.2.1 Social capital ................................................................................................................... 24 2.2.2 Affective labour .............................................................................................................. 25 2.2.3 Social and emotional support .......................................................................................... 26 2.2.4 Local communities.......................................................................................................... 28 2.2.5 Spatial proximity ............................................................................................................ 31 2.2.6 Social proximity: The impact of technology .................................................................. 31 2.2.7 Women and social networks ........................................................................................... 33 2.3 Why friendwork? ....................................................................................................................... 35 2.3.1 What is a friendwork? ..................................................................................................... 36 2.3.2 What do we mean by friend? .......................................................................................... 37 2.3.3 Virtual acquaintances ...................................................................................................... 39 2.3.4 Types of social networks ................................................................................................ 41 2.4 Implications ............................................................................................................................... 46 3 CHAPTER 3: MOBILITY IN THE NETWORK SOCIETY ..................................................... 47 3.1 Mobility ..................................................................................................................................... 47 3.2 The new mobilities paradigm ..................................................................................................... 49 Page v Communicating friendships: A case study of women in an Australian ‗seachange‘ town 3.3 Mobility and affection ............................................................................................................... 51 3.4 Population mobility: Relocation in seachange communities ..................................................... 51 3.4.1 Self and social identity: A sense of belonging in relocation situations ........................... 53 3.4.2 Immigration