Multidimensional Social History of Television: Social Uses of Finnish Television from the 1950s to the 2000s

Abstract

The article discusses the social uses of television from the late 1950s to the mid-2000s. In the tradition of media ethnography, it depicts both the structural and the relational uses of television. It looks at changes in watching television in social intercourse: in family viewing and social life outside the home. The primary sources for the study are two collections of written reminiscences about television in Finnish everyday life. The article shows how multidimensional the uses of television have been over the decades and how TV has often played an important role in social life. Looking broadly at the findings, one could say that despite the many technological and cultural changes in television’s history, most of the main features of television habits remain. TV is still a social family media.