Unthinking modernity : Innis, McLuhan, and the Frankfurt School / Judith Stamps.

By:

Stamps, Judith, 1946-

Material type:

TextPublication details: Montreal ; Buffalo : McGill-Queen's University Press, c1995.Description: xviii, 205 p. ; 24 cmISBN:

0773512322 (alk. paper)

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

191 21

Contents:

Space, sound, and negative dialectics -- The Frankfurt School, Adorno, and Benjamin -- Innis's formative years and a negative political economy -- Innis : communications and the negative dialogue -- McLuhan's early years and philosophical framework -- From visual society to no point of view -- Theorists in dialogue : parallel tracks?

Summary: "Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan have received much recognition as communications theorists, but Judith Stamps argues that the scope and value of their work extends far beyond this. She demonstrates that Innis and McLuhan used their studies of media to develop a critique of Western thought and culture and that their insights, derived from the North American experience, added a new, media-based perspective to such a theory." "Using a combination of historical and textual analysis, Stamps shows that Innis and McLuhan were dialecticians who developed an alternative route to a critique of reason through a media-based study of the limits of the positivist traditions that still inform much of Western thought. She demonstrates that Innis and McLuhan created variations of the "negative dialectics" proposed by members of the Frankfurt school, specifically Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin. In doing so Innis and McLuhan invented a uniquely Canadian version of critical theory, a fusion of critical political economy and critical rationality associated with the early Frankfurt school." "Unthinking Modernity raises issues about how modernity can best be understood and offers unique perspectives on how economics, politics, and media intertwine to create personal and social consciousness."

Holdings ( 1 )
Title notes ( 3 )

Holdings
Cover image	Item type	Current library	Home library	Collection	Shelving location	Call number	Materials specified	Vol info	URL	Copy number	Status	Notes	Date due	Barcode	Item holds	Item hold queue priority	Course reserves
	Main	RTC Library Main opac		Main TEST		191 STA					Available			30012722

Total holds: 0

Includes bibliographical references (p. [191]-199) and index.

"Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan have received much recognition as communications theorists, but Judith Stamps argues that the scope and value of their work extends far beyond this. She demonstrates that Innis and McLuhan used their studies of media to develop a critique of Western thought and culture and that their insights, derived from the North American experience, added a new, media-based perspective to such a theory." "Using a combination of historical and textual analysis, Stamps shows that Innis and McLuhan were dialecticians who developed an alternative route to a critique of reason through a media-based study of the limits of the positivist traditions that still inform much of Western thought. She demonstrates that Innis and McLuhan created variations of the "negative dialectics" proposed by members of the Frankfurt school, specifically Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin. In doing so Innis and McLuhan invented a uniquely Canadian version of critical theory, a fusion of critical political economy and critical rationality associated with the early Frankfurt school." "Unthinking Modernity raises issues about how modernity can best be understood and offers unique perspectives on how economics, politics, and media intertwine to create personal and social consciousness."