1 - Williams x McLuhan

Raymond Williams was a scholar, professor, and a prolific writer. Engaged to the challenges of his time, he collaborated in newspapers and magazines, including the influential New Left Review. He wrote influents books that remain references in the areas of history and the sociology of culture. One of his principal works, “Television: Technology and Cultural Form,” was firstly published in 1974. Despite being printed more than 40 years ago, the book is a necessary classic for anyone seeking to understand and study the effects of the media. The text helps to remove the impoverished political-cultural debate on technological determinism from the commonplace and attempts to discuss television by considering the diversity of factors influencing it.

Marshal McLuhan was an excelled theorist of communication known for the maxim “The medium is the message” and for having coined the term Global Village. McLuhan was a pioneer studying the effects of media and the transformations provoked by the technological revolution. Originally written in the late 1970s, his works continues updated and is constantly referenced in media research.

Unlike the iconic author Marshall McLuhan, who understands that the content of one medium is always another medium and disregard the content, Williams is worried about the intentions going in the machine. For this author, the work of the social and culture science is to establish the knowledge about the process which includes “consciousness of intentions.” Williams theorizes that effect can only be studied related to real purposes and criticizes the Mcluhanist technologic determinism for not taking account that the intentions are controlled by existing social authorities.

The question here is what would be the real intentions? Are they able to be accessed? Intentions are something that comes before the machine design and previously to the content itself. In both cases, you can’t see the raw intention, but the result of it. The process followed to arrive at that consequence, or if you prefer, the process followed to reach that effect is not capable of a clear and objective analysis. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that led Marshall McLuhan to concentrate his studies on the physical media, that is, regarding how the machine works and what impacts it can generate in its audience. But, what needs to be recognized in McLuhan theory is not about neglect content, social influence or culture but his alert to the critical role of technology itself in people behaviors. The point is that when you think about the way technologies works, what McLuhan did all the time, you are talking about intentions as well. The function of the machine is connected with its creator’s purposes. The weakness point of McLuhan’s theory is that he didn’t make a counterpoint with content issues at least to show that he knows its importance. From my point of view, content and the technologies itself need to be investigated, and content effects go alongside tech effects.  The point is that is humanly impossible to study and to understand both issues deeply. One doesn’t cancel the other. The media’s effect has some facets. Not only one. You can look through content or through technologies itself, or another angle that you prefer to choose. It’s up to you.

Works cited:

Marshall McLuhan - Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, McGraw-Hill, 1964

Raymond Williams - Television: Technology and Cultural form, Technosphere Series, London, Collins, 1974.