diff --git a/docs/api-guide/settings.md b/docs/api-guide/settings.md
index 4f87b30da..6444bffd4 100644
--- a/docs/api-guide/settings.md
+++ b/docs/api-guide/settings.md
@@ -150,4 +150,8 @@ Default: `'accept'`
 
 Default: `'format'`
 
+## USE_ABSOLUTE_URLS
+
+Default: `'True'`
+
 [cite]: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0020/
diff --git a/docs/topics/release-notes.md b/docs/topics/release-notes.md
index 35e8a8b35..361244c68 100644
--- a/docs/topics/release-notes.md
+++ b/docs/topics/release-notes.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 ## Master
 
 * Support for `read_only_fields` on `ModelSerializer` classes.
+* Add support and settings option `USE_ABSOLUTE_URLS`
 
 ## 2.1.2
 
@@ -165,4 +166,4 @@
 
 [cite]: http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/ar01s04.html
 [2.1.0-notes]: https://groups.google.com/d/topic/django-rest-framework/Vv2M0CMY9bg/discussion
-[announcement]: rest-framework-2-announcement.md
+[announcement]: rest-framework-2-announcement.md
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/rest_framework/pagination.py b/rest_framework/pagination.py
index d241ade7c..6f7c2dc06 100644
--- a/rest_framework/pagination.py
+++ b/rest_framework/pagination.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from rest_framework import serializers
+from rest_framework.settings import api_settings
 from rest_framework.templatetags.rest_framework import replace_query_param
 
 # TODO: Support URLconf kwarg-style paging
@@ -15,7 +16,13 @@ class NextPageField(serializers.Field):
             return None
         page = value.next_page_number()
         request = self.context.get('request')
-        url = request and request.build_absolute_uri() or ''
+        url = ''
+        if request:
+            if api_settings.USE_ABSOLUTE_URLS:
+                url = request.build_absolute_uri()
+            else:
+                url = request.get_full_path()
+
         return replace_query_param(url, self.page_field, page)
 
 
@@ -30,7 +37,13 @@ class PreviousPageField(serializers.Field):
             return None
         page = value.previous_page_number()
         request = self.context.get('request')
-        url = request and request.build_absolute_uri() or ''
+        url = ''
+        if request:
+            if api_settings.USE_ABSOLUTE_URLS:
+                url = request.build_absolute_uri()
+            else:
+                url = request.get_full_path()
+
         return replace_query_param(url, self.page_field, page)
 
 
diff --git a/rest_framework/reverse.py b/rest_framework/reverse.py
index c9db02f06..af1109bc1 100644
--- a/rest_framework/reverse.py
+++ b/rest_framework/reverse.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 """
 Provide reverse functions that return fully qualified URLs
 """
+from rest_framework.settings import api_settings
 from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse as django_reverse
 from django.utils.functional import lazy
 
@@ -14,7 +15,7 @@ def reverse(viewname, args=None, kwargs=None, request=None, format=None, **extra
         kwargs = kwargs or {}
         kwargs['format'] = format
     url = django_reverse(viewname, args=args, kwargs=kwargs, **extra)
-    if request:
+    if request and api_settings.USE_ABSOLUTE_URLS:
         return request.build_absolute_uri(url)
     return url
 
diff --git a/rest_framework/settings.py b/rest_framework/settings.py
index 906a7cf6c..481d750c3 100644
--- a/rest_framework/settings.py
+++ b/rest_framework/settings.py
@@ -66,7 +66,9 @@ DEFAULTS = {
     'URL_ACCEPT_OVERRIDE': 'accept',
     'URL_FORMAT_OVERRIDE': 'format',
 
-    'FORMAT_SUFFIX_KWARG': 'format'
+    'FORMAT_SUFFIX_KWARG': 'format',
+
+    'USE_ABSOLUTE_URLS': True
 }