Marshall McLuhan

Technological Determinism
McLuhans 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.
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 us
Very 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 reach
Increase our efficiency
Act as a filter to
Organize
Interpret
Extensions

Media innovations are really extensions of

human faculties
Book extends the eye
Wheel extends the leg
Clothes extend the skin
Electronic circuitry extends the central nervous
system
McLuhans Ages

Tribal
Literacy
Print
Electronic
Tribal Age: Oral Culture

World was an acoustic place

Hearing, touch, taste, and smell more
developed than sight
High involvement, passion, and
spontaneity in interactions
Spoken word more emotionally laden than
printed text
Life 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 sense
Ear exchanged for the eye
Encourages civilized private detachment
rather than primitive tribal involvement
Encourages logical, linear thinking.
Mathematics, logic, science, philosophy
Line became the organizing principle
The Print Age: Printing Press
Invention of the Printing Press (1400s)
Made visual dependence widespread
Repeatability the most important
characteristic of movable type
Standardization of national languages
encouraged nationalism
Books could be read in privacy/isolation
Individualism glorified
Prototype of Industrial Revolution
Mass production of identical products
Electronic Age: Electronic Media

Telegraph (1840s)
Global Village emerges
Cool medium of TV encourages
spontaniety and involvement
Retribalization
Instant communication returns us to a pre-
alphabetic oral tradition
Linear, logical thinking fades
Hot and Cool Media

Hot
A high definition channel of communication that
focuses on a single sensory receptor
Cool
A low definition channel of communication that
stimulates several different senses and requires
high sensory involvement
Hot Media Cool Media
Movies Television
Radio Telephone
Photographs Cartoon
Print Face to Face Talk

Lecture 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