MOBILE PHONES, THE BOTTOM OF THE PYRAMID AND WORKING-CLASS INFORMATION SOCIETY IN CHINA

The rise of China as the worldʹs largest mobile phone market poses key challenges to existing ways of conceptualizing the relationship between mobiles and information society, including especially questions concerning class stratification and class formation at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP). These are more than questions specific to the Chinese context. They are relevant to much of the Global South: Can there be a working-class information society? If so, what does it look like? What are its basic characteristics and key issues of contention, especially in relation to mobile communication? Based on recent evidence from urban China, this article discusses important questions about mobile phones, BOP, and working-class information society. It discusses the macro-institutional framework in China that shapes informational needs and patterns of appropriation at the grassroots level, which not only facilitates horizontal networking and new modes of class organization but also leads to new ways of exploitation and disempowerment. When it comes to issues of the working class, social processes at the BOP are often multi-dimensional, sometimes paradoxical, always inviting. This article also addresses issues for future research.