Empire and Communications

Influential political economist and communications theorist Innis (1894-1952) originally published Empire and Communications, considered by many to be his masterwork, through the Oxford University Press in 1950. His central thesis was that the technology of communications has played a central role in determining the nature of empires. He argued that media that emphasize space, light in character, such as papyrus and paper favor centralization and relatively non-hierarchical systems of government. For example, the Roman acquisition of papyrus following its conquest of Egypt helped in the formation of a large administrative empire. In contrast, media that emphasize time, more durable but heavier substances such as parchment, clay, or stone, favor decentralization and hierarchical institutions. Innis posited that successful empires "persist by overcoming the bias of media which overemphasizes either dimension." He further argued that the United States, dominated by newspaper media at the time, had skewed towards an overemphasis on space. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

It's been said that without Harold A. Innis there could have been no Marshall McLuhan. Empire and Communications is one of Innis's most important contributions to the debate about how media influence the development of consciousness and societies. In this foundational work, he traces humanity's movement from the oral tradition of preliterate cultures to the electronic media of recent times. Along the way, he presents his own influential concepts of oral communication, time and space bias, and monopolies of knowledge.