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Marshall McLuhan Technological Determinism. McLuhan’s Vision. We are entering an electronic age Electronic Media alter the way people Think Feel Act. Technological Determinism. The belief that technological development determines cultural and social change. “The medium is the message.”. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Marshall McLuhanTechnological Determinism
McLuhan’s Vision
We are entering an electronic ageElectronic Media alter the way people
ThinkFeelAct
Technological Determinism
The belief that technological development determines cultural and social change.“The medium is the
message.”
Basic Concepts
Communication technology inventions cause cultural change
Changes in modes of communication shape human life
Channels of communication are the primary causes of cultural change
“We shape our tools and they in turn shape us.”
More Basic Concepts
Way we live is largely a function of how we process information
Phonetic alphabet, printing press, and telegraph changed the way people thought about themselves
Same words spoken face-to-face, printed on a paper or presented on television provide three different messages
More Basic Concepts
Primary channel of communication changes the way we perceive the world
Dominant medium of an age dominates people
Media
Technologies through which we relate to the world around usVery broad definition
(includes the light bulb and the wheel)
Dominant media determine our “ratio of the senses.”
Media
Anything that amplifies or intensifies a bodily organ, sense, or function
Extend our reachIncrease our efficiencyAct as a filter to
OrganizeInterpret
Extensions
Media innovations are really extensions of human facultiesBook extends the eyeWheel extends the legClothes extend the skinElectronic circuitry extends the central nervous
system
McLuhan’s “Ages”
Tribal Literacy PrintElectronic
Tribal Age: Oral Culture
World was an acoustic placeHearing, touch, taste, and smell more
developed than sightHigh involvement, passion, and
spontaneity in interactionsSpoken word more emotionally laden than
printed textLife more complex because the ear is not
capable of selecting the stimuli it takes in
Age of Literacy: Writing
Results from development of phonetic alphabet (2000 B.C.)
Visual becomes dominant senseEar exchanged for the eye
Encourages “civilized” private detachment rather than “primitive” tribal involvement
Encourages logical, linear thinking. Mathematics, logic, science, philosophyLine became the organizing principle
The Print Age: Printing PressInvention of the Printing Press (1400’s)Made visual dependence widespread“Repeatability” the most important
characteristic of movable typeStandardization of national languages
encouraged nationalismBooks could be read in privacy/isolation
Individualism glorifiedPrototype of Industrial Revolution
Mass production of identical products
Electronic Age: Electronic Media
Telegraph (1840’s)“Global Village” emergesCool medium of TV encourages
spontaniety and involvementRetribalization
Instant communication returns us to a pre-alphabetic oral tradition
Linear, logical thinking fades
Hot and Cool Media
HotA high definition channel of communication that
focuses on a single sensory receptorCool
A low definition channel of communication that stimulates several different senses and requires high sensory involvement
Hot MediaMoviesRadioPhotographsPrint
Lecture
Cool MediaTelevisionTelephoneCartoonFace to Face Talk
Class Discussion
McLuhan and Education
People living in the midst of change cling to what was rather than embrace the new
Education is a battle ground over forms of literacy -- print versus video versus audio
Acoustic media threaten book-bound establishment of education
The End