Marshall McLuhan was a Canadian media scholar best known for his work in analyzing the role of pop culture in society. McLuhan’s Technological Determinism postulates that the social structures of past eras were largely shaped by whatever communication method was dominant at the time. He also coined the expression “the medium is the message,” in which he argues that the focus should be on the communication medium, rather than the message it carries. He further delves into this idea in his book, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, written in 1964.
While McLuhan does bring up a good point regarding the influence of mediums (e.g., newspaper, radio, television) on society. Within his definition of medium, he also includes things like the light bulb, cars, and the wheel. Moreover, he argues that content of such media has no influence on society whatsoever, which, as we know now, is largely untrue, as media content can greatly affect the views and thoughts of audiences. Many have also argued that his definition of “medium” is too broad, and his approach too reductionist.
In a similar vein is another one of McLuhan’s concepts, that media is an “extension of man,” which is reflected in the title of his book. This idea promotes that media can be used as a tool to extend human capabilities, much like physical tools, such as shovels and bikes. Shovels grant us the ability to dig faster and more efficiently, bikes allow us to travel faster and smoother than simply walking, and media allows us to see and hear things in enhanced ways. According to McLuhan, this “extension” changes the way people relate to their environment and to each other, which subsequently alters the social structure around them. Although there is a level of truth to this idea, there should be considerations in place for different cultures and their unique interactions with media.
McLuhan’s third well-known idea combines characteristics of the first two, in which he proposed that electronic media could form a “global village” and connect people from all around the world. He first referenced this term in his 1962 book The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man. With this concept, he effectively predicted what would become the World Wide Web, which is pretty impressive. Interestingly enough, MuLuhan said that he never explored the possibility of tranquility and uniformity to be part of the global village. What he failed to consider, however, is the effectiveness of electronic media in bringing people together to create communities built on similarities and mutual interests. This can be evidenced by the plethora of communities found on various social media platforms today.
While I do believe there to be some basis to McLuhan’s concepts and theories, such as the impact of media on society, as well as the idea of the “global village” built on technological networks. Both definitely ring true, as we can clearly see today, with people worldwide being brought together via the internet. On the other hand, I find his stance on the content or message of a medium lacking any influence on society to be entirely absurd and inaccurate. Even during his time, messages in mediums such as newspapers and television broadcasts were often used to spread certain messages to diverse audiences.
