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The second chapter of James Carey’s A Critical Reader discusses the historical components of media analysis, specifically through the example of works by Lewis Mumford and Marshall McLuhan. One of the first key claims to appear within the second chapter is that the roots of media analysis are in the study and understanding of “whimsy, propaganda, and truth.” Indeed, media should be perceived as an element that should be analyzed together with sociopolitical factors. In the case of Mumford and McLuhan, Carey observes that the writing and interpretation of media can result in the reconstruction of wider arguments and even the selection of an antagonistic agent. This coincides with much of the philosophy of constructing and analyzing propaganda and its utilities. In the case of McLuhan and the “nature of electrical technology”, references to Mumford were frequently made and presented him as an “antagonist” to McLuhan’s own position. While propaganda may no longer be applied to all forms of media analysis, leftover factors still informed early media studies and were highly dependent on the nature of propaganda.
Industrialism is also a topic revisited in the second chapter, as Carey describes the roles of both Mumford and McLuhan in the emergence of literacy and printing. The author characterizes the changing process and the establishment of formats such as periodicals, books, and newspapers as they are seen now to be a process of changing powers. Industrialism had similarly paved the way for long-distance communication and universality to take over short-distance and localized media. Similarly, media became an instrument in a growing economy. Socio-political concepts, such as the “man”, were given visual and cultural significance and permeated a variety of social exchanges and relationships.
While media analysis gave way to many politically-charged interpretations, it had also given room for rapid depolarization and a total focus on culture. In the first chapter, Carey notes that Lippman had led the process of depoliticizing media and McLuhan and Mumford had been found to be agents of continuous change. Mumford argued that electronic devices had largely been destructive and intense for the relationship between the consumer, the media, and technology. On the other hand, McLuhan argued that the new format of media consumption would cause a total qualitative change in society and lead to a new approach to cultural life and social organization. While their arguments clashed, both had essentially concluded that a type of depoliticization is likely to occur and the focus of mass media would shift from its early propagandist roots to be entirely founded on culture.
One of the last topics to be touched upon in both chapters is the concept of mass society and how it has become centralized through media. Hints of this concept can be seen in industrialism, which facilitated the move to universal media and the rapid decline of localized cultural elements. McLuhan reached this point through his analysis as he became prominent through his publications in the scholarly communities that had reviewed his work in renowned outlets such as the New Yorker. A concept emerged from the combined interpretation of McLuahn’s analysis that electricity was a Great Reverser, essentially a problem solver of past, present, and future issues. This can be seen as an effect of media analysis as it is consumed in a mass society.
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