mass-communication-theory

ias of
communication
Innis’s idea that
communication
technology makes
centralization of
power inevitable
orders from the capital city. Similarly, the structure of later social orders also depended
on the media technology available at a certain point in time. For example,
the telephone and telegraph permitted even more effective control over larger geographic
areas. Everett Rogers paraphrased Innis: “The changing technology of
communication acted to reduce the cost and increase the speed and distance of
communication, and thus to extend the geographic size of empires” (2000, p.
126). As such, the introduction of new media technology gradually gave centralized
elites increased power over space and time.
Innis traced the way Canadian elites used various technologies, including the
railroad and telegraph, to extend their control across the continent. As a political
economist, he harbored a deep suspicion of centralized power and believed that
newer forms of communication technology would make even greater centralization
inevitable. He referred to this as the inherent bias of communication. Because
of this bias, the people and the resources of outlying regions that he called the
periphery are inevitably exploited to serve the interests of elites at the center.
MCLUHAN: UNDERSTANDING MEDIA
the medium is the
message
McLuhan’s idea
that new forms of
media transform
our experience of
ourselves and our
society, and this
influence is ultimately
more important
than the
content of specific
messages
global village
McLuhan’s conception
of a new
form of social
organization
emerging as instantaneouselectronic
media tie
the entire world
into one great social,
political, and
cultural system
Chapter 8 The Emergence of Critical and Cultural Theories of Mass Communication 231
Although he borrowed freely from Innis, McLuhan didn’t dwell on issues of exploitation
or centralized control. His views on the cultural consequences of capitalistdominated
media were much more optimistic than those of the Frankfurt School.
He was fascinated by the implications of Innis’s arguments concerning the transformative
power of media technology. He didn’t fear the ways this power might be
exercised by elites. If the technology itself determines how it can be used, then there
is nothing to fear from elites. If media could be used to create empires, what else
could they do? Was it possible that media could transform our sensory experiences
as well as our social order? After all, the acts of reading a book and viewing a
movie or television program employ different sensory organs. During the 1960s,
we were clearly moving from an era grounded in print technology to one based on
electronic media. McLuhan asked an important question: “If communication technology
plays such a critical role in the emergence of new social orders and new
forms of culture, what are the implications of abandoning print media in favor of
electronic media?”
McLuhan explained his vision of the implications of the spread of electronic
media using catchy, and what proved to be lasting, phrases. He proclaimed that
the medium is the message (and the massage). In other words, new forms of media
transform (massage) our experience of ourselves and our society, and this influence
is ultimately more important than the content that is transmitted in its specific messages—technology
determines experience.
He used the term global village to refer to the new form of social organization
that would inevitably emerge as instantaneous electronic media tied the entire
world into one great social, political, and cultural system. Unlike Innis, McLuhan
didn’t bother to concern himself with questions about control over this village or
whether village members would be exploited. To McLuhan, these questions didn’t
matter. He was more concerned with microscopic issues, with the impact of media
on our senses and where this influence might lead.
Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.