Innis's Great Transformation: Staples Thesis/Medium Theory

Babe, Robert E.

doi:10.22230/cjc.2015v40n3a2991

Cited by 4 publications

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“…He discovers the constitution of social relationships by the technology of language. Robert Babe (2015) has argued that Innis' historical analysis of media, especially at the end of his life, attempted to reveal universal principles applicable to his conservative dialectic, which tends toward balance. Liam Cole Young (2016) locates the beaver in Canadian history as a site of cultural techniques, in which the economic activity surrounding the pelt trade produced infrastructures and institutions Canadian development would be patterned upon.…”

Section: Energy Capitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fuel as a Factor in Canadian Transport: Energy Capital and Communication Theory

Greaves

2017

Canadian Journal of Communication

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Background Established in 1849, the Fort Rupert coal settlement represented a departure in the Hudson’s Bay Company’s mode of colonial wealth accumulation on Vancouver Island. Company officials failed, however, to appreciate basic differences in the new mode of accumulation, including the importance of transportation to capitalist mineral extraction.Analysis This article accomplishes three things: it retrieves foundational theories of transportation and commodity circulation once popular in communication studies, provides a documentary account of coal mining and the coal trade in the mid-nineteenth-century eastern Pacific, and articulates a theory of capitalist energy consumption.Conclusion and implications The culminating theory of energy capital positions the extraction and circulation of fuel within Canadian communication studies through a transportation-focused approach to communication.Keywords Canadian history; Communication theory; Energy; Marxism; TransportationContexte L’agglomération de Fort Rupert établie en 1849 pour extraire le charbon sur l’Île de Vancouver représenta pour la Compagnie de la Baie d’Hudson une nouvelle sorte de colonisation axée sur l’enrichissement. Les dirigeants de la Compagnie, cependant, n’ont pas reconnu des particularités fondamentales relatives à ce nouveau mode d’accumulation, y compris l’importance de moyens de transport jusqu’au site d’extraction des minerais.Analyse Cet article vise trois objectifs : il récupère des théories fondatrices, populaires jadis dans le domaine des communications, sur le transport et la circulation des marchandises; il fournit un compte rendu sur l’extraction et le commerce du charbon dans l’Est du Pacifique au milieu du 19ème siècle; et il articule une théorie capitaliste sur la consommation énergétique.Conclusion and implications La théorie principale sur le capital en énergie positionne l’extraction et la circulation de combustibles au sein des études en communication au Canada en ayant recours à une approche centrée sur le transport.Mots clés Canadian history; Communication theory; Energy; Marxism; Transportation

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Section: Energy Capitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fuel as a Factor in Canadian Transport: Energy Capital and Communication Theory

Greaves

2017

Canadian Journal of Communication

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“…This finding is also important because it suggests an underlying unity binds the economic and communications writing in Innis' corpus. Recently, interpreters such as Alexander John Watson (2006) and Robert Babe (2015aBabe ( , 2015b have argued that the earlier economic histories should be seen as conceptually and philosophically separate from the communication writings produced after 1940. The substance of Political Economy, however, as well as close readings of works such as Settlement and the Mining Frontier (Lower & Innis, 1936) and The Fur Trade (Innis, 1940), suggest that this view is mistaken.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Flux of Communication: Innis, Wiener, and the Perils of Positive Feedback

Bonnett¹

2017

Canadian Journal of Communication

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Background In the early 1940s, two men from different disciplinary contexts converged on three concerns: information, its dynamics, and the pathologies stemming from those dynamics. Norbert Wiener studied these concerns from the context of mechanical and biological systems. Harold Innis viewed them from the perspective of political, social, and cultural systems.Analysis The purpose of this study is to establish this commonality, and consider its implications for two histories, those of the Cybernetic and Toronto Schools of Communication.Conclusion and implications For the Cybernetic School, the similarity suggests that the intellectual roots behind it are more extensive than scholars have appreciated. For the Toronto School, this study suggests that the concepts of information, increasing returns, and the flux of communication are neglected constituents of Innis’ thoughtRÉSUMÉ Contexte Au début des années 40, deux hommes de disciplines différentes ont convergé sur trois questions : l’information, les dynamiques de celle-ci, et les pathologies résultant de ces dynamiques. Norbert Wiener étudia ces questions en privilégiant les systèmes mécaniques et biologiques. Harold Innis quant à lui les étudia en privilégiant les systèmes politiques, sociaux et culturels.Analyse Cette étude a pour but de souligner la convergence entre ces deux auteurs et de considérer les implications de celle-ci pour deux histoires, celle de l’école de communication de Toronto et celle de la cybernétique.Conclusion et implications Pour l’école de la cybernétique, cette convergence semble indiquer que les fondements intellectuels de cette école de pensée sont plus vastes qu’on l’a cru jusqu’à présent. Pour l’école de Toronto, cette étude suggère que des concepts comme l’information, les rendements croissants et le flux de la communication sont des composantes de la pensée d’Innis qui ont été négligées jusqu’à présent.

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Volume and control: the transition from information to power

Segev

2019

Journal of Multicultural Discourses

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Innis's Great Transformation: Staples Thesis/Medium Theory

Cited by 4 publications

References 6 publications

Fuel as a Factor in Canadian Transport: Energy Capital and Communication Theory

Fuel as a Factor in Canadian Transport: Energy Capital and Communication Theory

The Flux of Communication: Innis, Wiener, and the Perils of Positive Feedback

Volume and control: the transition from information to power

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