Hoping someone might have feedback/thoughts/possible resources for something I'm working on these days. I'm working on a paper exploring the various ways beepers work in US capitalist economies. I'm using a few examples. (1) beepers as surveillance devices within a workplace--thinking here of a factory floor where workers can always be reached by bosses. This can be characterized as the Panoptic beeper. (2) Beepers in the 24/7 office--thinking here of those poor souls who can always be reached by co-workers, clients, and supervisors via cell phones, beepers and email. I'm lumping these together because they are both examples of employees being surveilled and controlled. I think I can do a straightforwad Foucauldian analysis of these. Now, example (3) is turning out to be tricky for me. This is the beeper and the gangsta. I'm looking at the role of beepers in the drug trade. Unfortunately, this is the main focus of the paper. Now, I think I can do a bit on beepers (and underground economies) and flexible accumulation. I can do a bit on employment opportunities in inner cities leading to involvment in the drug trade. I can do a bit on beepers as surveillance--police perhaps looking more closely (i think this might be more of an historical point) at young black men with beepers than without. If anyone could recommend any good *articles* on postfordism that would be really helpful. Also, does anyone know anything about the political economy of the US urban drug trade? I haven't been able to locate anything on drug-dealing and wireless technologies--don't think it exists so i'm probably going to have to qualify that section with "popular perception..." Does this even make sense? At the very least, I have a good title. Thanks in advance. Frances
