Retribalization and the Post-Literate Man
Abstract:
Marshall McLuhan’s legacy in understanding media and social psychology begins with his analysis about the development of technologies, and how these technologies change our perceptions in how we think and behave. “Because all media, from the phonetic alphabet to the computer, are extensions of man that cause deep and lasting changes in him and transform his environment. Such an extension is an intensification, an amplification of an organ...” (Norden, p.4). McLuhan tracks these technological changes in history, not as a moralist, but as a student. For McLuhan, he is trying to understand the maelstrom in an epoch of a global theatre unraveling.
Development:
McLuhan argues that with the rise of the phonetic alphabet and the Gutenberg printing press in the 1440s; the age of print ushered in the notions of privacy, nationalism, and individualism. No longer does the tribal man or pre-literate man need to use his oral and auditory faculties to memorize and recite information. According to McLuhan, the tribal man was balanced and in tune with his senses. The tribal village shared resources, information, myths and rituals. It was everything that the literate man detested. The literate man was able to retreat into his abode and self study the printed word. The phonetic alphabet was structured, detached from the tactile world, fragmented, and categorical in the organization of knowledge. This advancement led to the ideas of privacy and individualism. Nationalism occurred when print culture allowed new ways of doing business, re-organized institutions, and new methods of production like the assembly line. Printed money, specialized markets, and the industrial revolution centralized power and its processes.
Fast forward to the electric age, where media technology is abounded and communication happens instantly and simultaneously. McLuhan associates the electric age as the retribalization of the post-literate man. Retribalization is “the process by which by which our electronically reawakened nervous systems and our intense, and simultaneous participation via electronic media puts us back in touch with ourselves and with each other in a state of decentralized tribal existence” (Gahr, 2012). In the electric age, privacy and individualism are replaced with total surveillance. Information no longer is private but public; adding to the decentralization of government control and its institutions. For example, individuals that participate on social media, readily share information about their relationship status, their thoughts, their hobbies, their connections to others, and everything about themselves through cyberspace. In addition, government agencies like the CIA and FBI share information about cases, individuals, and organizations; proliferating the surveillance of the public. McLuhan says, “the implosion of electric technology is transmogrifying literate, fragmented man into a complex and depth-structured human being with a deep emotional awareness of his complete interdependence with all of humanity” (Norden, p.15). In other words, the transmogrifying of the fragmented man into a being with interdependence and emotional awareness was made possible through the interconnectedness of electric communication. The electric age changed the topography of borders into a global village.
However, the transition from the age of print to the electric age has not been without turmoil. The recoil from private information to public information tested the United States freedom of speech; for example, when Wikileaks founder Julian Assange release government information in 2010. The struggle for the control of information and usage could be found in groups like Anonymous; who expose corporate, religious, and government information by hacking their databases. The prophetic McLuhan says, “From Tokyo to Paris to Columbia, youth mindlessly acts out its identity quest in the theater of the streets, searching not for goals but for roles, striving for an identity that eludes them” (Norden, p.12). On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza played out his role in the shooting of twenty children and six staff members, not including his mother before taking his own life. The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newton Connecticut was the second deadliest school shooting in the history of the United States. Speculation surmounted due to the lack of evidence as to why Lanza took the actions that he did. On the other hand, the phenomenon was not just localized to the United States. In 2011, the Arab Spring protests challenged Middle East and North African governments through the retribalization of the internet. The attractiveness of the electric age brought individuals together in a global village that offered an outpouring of information and power to those who seek it. So where do we go from here? What is the message?
Conclusion:
For McLuhan, “the medium is the message” (1967). The medium rather than the content “denotes the effect of each medium has on the sensorium…” (Wikipedia, 2012). In other words, our technologies are imagined and produced with the intent as an extension to our bodies. Thus, the content in which the medium uses as a vehicle of expression; plays a subordinate role to the medium that is applied in our everyday usage and understanding. Furthermore, the title of McLuhan’s book, The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects, represents: the message, mess-age, massage, and mass-age. McLuhan’s outrospection of message, mess-age, massage, and mass-age were accidental and deliberate, and only made possible through the electronic media. In conclusion, the post-literate man lives in a retribalized culture, where “the story begins only when the book closes” (Norden, p.23).
Sources:
Gahr, T. (2012). McLuhan’s retribalization and the end of individualism, nationalism, and privacy. Retrieved February 13, 2012 from http://www.itstartswithstory.com/2012/04/22/mcluhans-retribalization-and-the-end-of-individualism-nationalism-and-privacy
McLuhan, M. (1967). The medium is the massage: an inventory of effects. Gingko Press, Inc.: Berkeley, CA.
Norden, E. (1969). The playboy interview: marshall mcLuhan. Retrieved February 13, 2012 from http://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/188/spring07/mcluhan.pdf
In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. (2013). Sandy hook elementary school shooting. Retrieved February 13, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting
In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. (2013). The medium is the massage. Retrieved February 12, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Medium_Is_the_Massage
Marshall McLuhan’s legacy in understanding media and social psychology begins with his analysis about the development of technologies, and how these technologies change our perceptions in how we think and behave. “Because all media, from the phonetic alphabet to the computer, are extensions of man that cause deep and lasting changes in him and transform his environment. Such an extension is an intensification, an amplification of an organ...” (Norden, p.4). McLuhan tracks these technological changes in history, not as a moralist, but as a student. For McLuhan, he is trying to understand the maelstrom in an epoch of a global theatre unraveling.
Development:
McLuhan argues that with the rise of the phonetic alphabet and the Gutenberg printing press in the 1440s; the age of print ushered in the notions of privacy, nationalism, and individualism. No longer does the tribal man or pre-literate man need to use his oral and auditory faculties to memorize and recite information. According to McLuhan, the tribal man was balanced and in tune with his senses. The tribal village shared resources, information, myths and rituals. It was everything that the literate man detested. The literate man was able to retreat into his abode and self study the printed word. The phonetic alphabet was structured, detached from the tactile world, fragmented, and categorical in the organization of knowledge. This advancement led to the ideas of privacy and individualism. Nationalism occurred when print culture allowed new ways of doing business, re-organized institutions, and new methods of production like the assembly line. Printed money, specialized markets, and the industrial revolution centralized power and its processes.
Fast forward to the electric age, where media technology is abounded and communication happens instantly and simultaneously. McLuhan associates the electric age as the retribalization of the post-literate man. Retribalization is “the process by which by which our electronically reawakened nervous systems and our intense, and simultaneous participation via electronic media puts us back in touch with ourselves and with each other in a state of decentralized tribal existence” (Gahr, 2012). In the electric age, privacy and individualism are replaced with total surveillance. Information no longer is private but public; adding to the decentralization of government control and its institutions. For example, individuals that participate on social media, readily share information about their relationship status, their thoughts, their hobbies, their connections to others, and everything about themselves through cyberspace. In addition, government agencies like the CIA and FBI share information about cases, individuals, and organizations; proliferating the surveillance of the public. McLuhan says, “the implosion of electric technology is transmogrifying literate, fragmented man into a complex and depth-structured human being with a deep emotional awareness of his complete interdependence with all of humanity” (Norden, p.15). In other words, the transmogrifying of the fragmented man into a being with interdependence and emotional awareness was made possible through the interconnectedness of electric communication. The electric age changed the topography of borders into a global village.
However, the transition from the age of print to the electric age has not been without turmoil. The recoil from private information to public information tested the United States freedom of speech; for example, when Wikileaks founder Julian Assange release government information in 2010. The struggle for the control of information and usage could be found in groups like Anonymous; who expose corporate, religious, and government information by hacking their databases. The prophetic McLuhan says, “From Tokyo to Paris to Columbia, youth mindlessly acts out its identity quest in the theater of the streets, searching not for goals but for roles, striving for an identity that eludes them” (Norden, p.12). On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza played out his role in the shooting of twenty children and six staff members, not including his mother before taking his own life. The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newton Connecticut was the second deadliest school shooting in the history of the United States. Speculation surmounted due to the lack of evidence as to why Lanza took the actions that he did. On the other hand, the phenomenon was not just localized to the United States. In 2011, the Arab Spring protests challenged Middle East and North African governments through the retribalization of the internet. The attractiveness of the electric age brought individuals together in a global village that offered an outpouring of information and power to those who seek it. So where do we go from here? What is the message?
Conclusion:
For McLuhan, “the medium is the message” (1967). The medium rather than the content “denotes the effect of each medium has on the sensorium…” (Wikipedia, 2012). In other words, our technologies are imagined and produced with the intent as an extension to our bodies. Thus, the content in which the medium uses as a vehicle of expression; plays a subordinate role to the medium that is applied in our everyday usage and understanding. Furthermore, the title of McLuhan’s book, The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects, represents: the message, mess-age, massage, and mass-age. McLuhan’s outrospection of message, mess-age, massage, and mass-age were accidental and deliberate, and only made possible through the electronic media. In conclusion, the post-literate man lives in a retribalized culture, where “the story begins only when the book closes” (Norden, p.23).
Sources:
Gahr, T. (2012). McLuhan’s retribalization and the end of individualism, nationalism, and privacy. Retrieved February 13, 2012 from http://www.itstartswithstory.com/2012/04/22/mcluhans-retribalization-and-the-end-of-individualism-nationalism-and-privacy
McLuhan, M. (1967). The medium is the massage: an inventory of effects. Gingko Press, Inc.: Berkeley, CA.
Norden, E. (1969). The playboy interview: marshall mcLuhan. Retrieved February 13, 2012 from http://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/188/spring07/mcluhan.pdf
In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. (2013). Sandy hook elementary school shooting. Retrieved February 13, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting
In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. (2013). The medium is the massage. Retrieved February 12, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Medium_Is_the_Massage