Kanttekeningen

Kanttekeningen bij het overlijden van Marshall McLuhan

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Abstract

On the death of Marshall Mc Luhan — On December 31, 1980 Marshall Mc Luhan died, undoubtedly the most famous but also the most criticized of contemporary media sociologists. In the work of Me Luhan the author of this contribution points out two major features. First, a series of hypotheses about the transformation of western society by the introduction of the electronic media, especially television. These media will re-establish the close community and reinforce group consciousness. The result of this process, called the „tribalisation” of society will result in the mutation of the world into a „global village”. In the second place, M. Me Luhan gave large attention to the effects of the media on the audience. His well known aphorism „The medium is the message” means that the appearance of the medium, under its different shapes, fullfils some functions and is more important than the content of the message or the intention of the communicator. Finally the author thinks that the theoretical work of Me Luhan has to be seen as being embedded in the two main paradigms of American communication sociology: the mass culture approach from the works of D. Riesman, B. Rosenberg and D.M. White and the Mertonian functional approach introduced in the field of mass communication study by J. Klapper and C. Wright.

How to Cite:

Van Parys, G., (1981) “Kanttekeningen bij het overlijden van Marshall McLuhan”, Tijdschrift voor Sociale Wetenschappen 26(1), 37–41. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tvsw.94782