The Mickey Mouse Telephone. An Icon of Turning Tides in the Relationship Between the State, the Economy and Society in 1980s Germany

Simple item page
dc.creatorHenrich-Franke, Christian
dc.date.accessioned2020-05-22T10:05:34Z
dc.date.available2020-05-22T10:05:34Z
dc.date.issued2019
dc.description.abstractThe 1980s saw the triumph of neoliberal thinking in Western European societies and economies. Referring to neoliberal economists, governments across Europe implemented policies to deregulate (inter)national markets and to privatise national monopolies. One priority were the large postal and telecommunication services monopolies. In terms of media iconography, one icon of this ‘turn of the tides’ in the regulation of German telephone markets was the ‘Mickey Mouse Telephone’. It was a symbol of the American way of life and the freedom of choice, of the firm belief in the power of markets and the deregulation of monopolies. Nevertheless, the Mickey Mouse Telephone was an antagonism in itself. It was a symbol of American (technological) superiority, and yet, when it was introduced in the German market, it was overpriced and featured an outdated technology. Provided by the ‘Deutsche Bundespost’ – the German state-owned postal and telecommunications monopoly business – the Mickey Mouse Telephone was an analogue model equipped with a dial. The price was several times higher than for a standard phone model. This paper places the Mickey Mouse Telephone in the broader historical context of the relationship between the state, the economy and society in 1980s Germany.en
dc.identifier.doi10.25819/ubsi/613
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/13806
dc.identifier.urihttps://mediarep.org/handle/doc/14747
dc.identifier.urnurn:nbn:de:hbz:467-15394
dc.languageeng
dc.publisherUniversität Siegen: SFB 1187 Medien der Kooperation
dc.publisher.placeSiegen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.subjectTelefonde
dc.subjectMediengeschichtede
dc.subjectMarktwirtschaftde
dc.subjectNeoliberalismusde
dc.subjectDeutsche Bundespostde
dc.subjectRegulationspolitikde
dc.subjecttelephoneen
dc.subjectmedia historyen
dc.subjectneoliberalismen
dc.subjectregulatory policyen
dc.subject.ddcddc:384
dc.titleThe Mickey Mouse Telephone. An Icon of Turning Tides in the Relationship Between the State, the Economy and Society in 1980s Germanyen
dc.typeworkingPaper
dc.type.statuspublishedVersion
local.academicbookseriesSFB 1187 Medien der Kooperation – Working Paper Series
local.coverpage2021-05-29T01:50:41
local.identifier.firstpublishedhttps://doi.org/10.25819/ubsi/613
local.source.volume12

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
Henrich-Franke_2019_The_Mickey_Mouse_Telephone_Working-Paper-Series-SFB-1187-No-12_.pdf
Size:
2.95 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Original PDF with additional cover page.
Download

Collections

Working Paper Series: Medien der Kooperation