Ulusu Ağlarla Örmek: Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nde Telekomünikasyonun Politikası - Dan Schiller’in ‘Crossed Wires’ Adlı Eseri Üzerine Bir İnceleme

Abstract

This article offers a review of Dan Schiller’s Crossed Wires: The Conflicted History of US Telecommunications from the Post Office to the Internet within a perspective of communication studies. Rather than framing postal services, the telegraph, the telephone, and digital networks through narratives of technical progress or market efficiency, Schiller adopts a political-economic perspective that foregrounds the relationships among labor struggles, state interventions, and corporate interests. Challenging assumptions that portray communication technologies as politically neutral, the book explores telecommunication through the persistent tension between public service principles and market-driven priorities. This review analyzes Schiller’s work along three main themes: (i) the historical continuity of U.S. telecommunications from the postal system to digital networks; (ii) the significance of workers’ labor struggles and political movements and (iii) the political-economic origins of digital capitalism preceding the internet. In doing so, Crossed Wires offers a historically grounded counter-narrative to technology-determinist paradigms prevalent in communication studies with a focus on infrastructure, labor, and state relations. The review concludes by discussing the book’s key contributions including its historical depth, labor-focused approach, and structural analysis as well as its relevance for contemporary debates on the public dimensions of communication in the digital age.