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Marshall McLuhan was a communication theorist known for his concepts of the “global village” and “the medium is the message”. His book, The Gutenberg Galaxy, discusses how the printing press changed society from oral to written literacy. McLuhan believed that television created a “ritribalization” communication system and accurately predicted the internet’s impact on linking the world’s tribes. He emphasized the importance of considering the impact of new communication technologies on society. McLuhan died in 1980 at the age of 69.
Dr. Marshall McLuhan, born Herbert Marshall McLuhan in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on July 21, 1911, is a noted communication theorist and critic. He is best known for his concepts of the “global village” and his theory that “the medium is the message”. He discusses these concepts in his two most famous works: The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man (1962) and Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964).
Dr. Marshall McLuhan’s mention of “Gutenberg” in the title of his book, The Gutenberg Galaxy, refers to Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the Gutenberg printing press. Gutenberg’s invention allowed for the wide availability of printed materials for the first time. This new literacy changed society from a mostly oral or phonetic literacy to a written form of literacy. The focus of communication has changed from ear to eye. According to Dr. Marshall McLuhan, the invention of printing led to a “mechanical culture” of which “Gutenberg man” was its product.
“The global village” is his term for what he sees as being created by communications technology that includes people from different cultures and different parts of the world who would not otherwise be considered part of the same “tribe”. For example, the first book printed in Gutenberg’s press was the Bible, and the impact of that book being distributed around the world united readers in Christianity. Dr. Marshall McLuhan notes that television, with its sensory involvement of being able to see and hear new worlds, goes a long way in connecting the world as one great “ritribalization” communication system.
For example, the electric medium of television allows a person in a big city to experience life in the jungle through sight and sound. The visual and auditory sensory experience of television engages the viewer so completely in the experience that it is in so many ways “real.” Dr. Marshall McLuhan sees the idea that an electric medium like television has so much “ritribalizing” power through bridging the world as one, that he emphasizes “the medium is the message”.
Many other communication theorists research the content of television. They tend to disagree with the importance he places on the very concept of television as a medium rather than considering the ‘message’ of television content and its impact on society. They see importance in both the “medium” and the “message”.
However, many of these theorists better understood Dr. Marshall McLuhan’s forward-thinking approach with the introduction of the Internet. He accurately predicted that future electric media would create a “global village” of non-verbal communication that could be accessed worldwide, thus linking the world’s “tribes”. The Internet has done just that, as access to information by people from all over the world has become the important aspect of this new form of communication. The messages sent are entirely secondary to the importance of being able to send and receive written messages all over the world.
Dr. Marshall McLuhan notes in Understanding Media that man doesn’t tend to consider the impact of new communication technologies on society until he has already established himself in society. He sees it as a lack of foresight. He was both a professor of English literature and mass communication at various universities, including the University of Toronto from 1946 to 1980. He received his Ph.D. from Cambridge in 1942. McLuhan and his wife Corinne have six children. He died on December 31, 1980 at the age of 69.
