Space and Time

people.⁴⁹⁰ Some scholars argue that ideas of actor-network theory were already present in Innis’ writings, although actor-network theorists do not explicitly construct on Innis’

communication theory.⁴⁹¹ However, in the context of this dissertation, Innis’ theory has strengths over actor-network theory, not only due to his direct focus on, and non-instrumental understanding of, communication and media technologies, but due to his insights provided for studying “bias”. Innis was highly interested in two main types of bias possessed by any medium, which he called space-bias and time-bias. The strength of space-bias media was their portability, namely the ease with which messages could be disseminated across space;

whereas the strength of time-bias media was durability, the ease with which messages could be maintained over time. Accordingly, the next subchapter is dedicated to these concepts.

documentary heritage that have survived to the present day and are now inscribed on the MoW Registers.⁴⁹⁶ Soules suggests that this space-time division should be understood “as related to the ability of the message to survive transmission and have impact over space or over time”.⁴⁹⁷ Indeed, while this is one possible interpretation, it is important to explain why this is not entirely what Innis wanted to say.

Scholars criticise simplistic interpretations of Innis’ theory, which are argued as leading to misunderstandings of his concepts.⁴⁹⁸ However, we have to acknowledge that some statements of Innis, such as that quoted at the beginning of this subchapter, create such a simplistic impression of his theory and may lead to simplistic descriptions as provided above.

At an uncritical glance and without knowing its underlying assumptions, Innis’ statement gives the impression that the space- or time-bias of a medium is related to physical matter.

Naturally, this was hardly the case, especially if we consider Innis’ definition of medium.

Innis related the notion of bias with space and time, because – as he himself explains –“the relative emphasis on time or space will imply a bias of significance to the culture in which it [a medium] is imbedded.”⁴⁹⁹ Innis sustained that “cultures will reflect their influence in terms of space and in terms of duration.”⁵⁰⁰ Therefore, the notions of space and time illustrate the implications of medium bias in specific cultural settings. Indeed, Richard Noble provides a similar interpretation of Innis’ notions of space and time as related to bias:

“Time-biased civilizations tend towards institutional decentralization, an emphasis on the sacred, and efficiency at solving problems of continuity. Their instability arises from their inability to solve problems of space. Space biased civilizations, in contrast;

emphasize institutional centralization, imperialism, and efficiency at solving problems of space. Their instability arises from their neglect of the problems of time.”⁵⁰¹

Innis argued that medium bias will lead to a bias in the culture in which it is used, which seems to match Noble’s explanation. Therefore, Innis did not mean that the media through their properties alone were suitable to survive transmission over space or time, which could involve reducing a medium to its materiality. Rather, what Innis meant was that the medium facilitated or hindered the conditions necessary for extension or duration, which did not only refer to material aspects, but also social mechanisms, values, attitudes, skills, practices,

496 See subchapter 4.3 in this dissertation.

497 Soules, Harold Adams Innis.

498 Comor, “Harold Innis”.

499 Innis, Bias, 33.

500 Innis, Bias, 132.

501 Richard Noble, “Innis’s Conception of Freedom,” in Harold Innis in the New Century: Reflections and Refractions, eds. by Charles R. Acland and William J. Buxton (Québec: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1999), 34-35.

institutions, etc., as can be inferred from Innis’ texts. It is worth giving one example strategically chosen because it does not imply materiality in the conventional sense. Based on the historical examples of Palestine and Babylon, Innis argues that oral tradition as communication medium created recognised standards and lasting moral and social institutions.⁵⁰² It built up the “soul of social organizations”, contributed to their maintenance and continuity, and developed ways of perpetuation. He explains that religion served almost the same purpose, being a “sociological mechanism through which traditions were established, directing and enforcing the co-operation of individuals in the interest of the community, maintaining group life, and creating a lasting organisation of society independent of a living leader”⁵⁰³ Therefore, the notions of space and time did not only imply a bias of matter, so to speak, with further scholars sharing a similar view. For Angus, the notions of space and time “describe the constitutive power of media of communication in constructing and maintaining society”,⁵⁰⁴ reminding of Carey’s ritual view of communication. Moreover, for Deibert, they designate “supports and constraints presented by different communication media to prevailing mentalités and institutions through history;”⁵⁰⁵ and also for Cox the notions of space and time were related to more than matter. Starting from the associations established by Innis between different types of institutions and the space- and time-bias, Cox explains that “the spatial dimension he [Innis] associated with the state and with military power. The time dimension he associated with religion and the institution of church.”⁵⁰⁶ Indeed, Innis did this.⁵⁰⁷ However, Cox suggests that this distinction “does not relate to two institutions - state and church - so much as to two orientations of the human mind.”⁵⁰⁸ Cox could be right, because Innis believed that space-biased cultures showed an obsession with

“present-mindedness”, and thus an orientation of the mind;⁵⁰⁹ alternatively, as explained by Carey in his analysis of the concepts of space and time, they reflect that “structures of consciousness parallel structures of communication.”⁵¹⁰ However, the notions of space and time are encountered again in relation with another concept of Innis, i.e. balance, given that they are crucial for its understanding, as explained below.

502 Innis, Bias, 105.

503 Ibid.

504 Angus, “The Materiality of Expression”.

505 Deibert, “Between Essentialism and Constructivism,” 47.

506 Robert W. Cox, “Civilizations: Encounters and Transformations,” Studies in Political Economy 47, no. 47 (1995): 21.

507 This emerges throughout his writings. For an example, where he states this explicitly see Innis, Empire, 112.

508 Cox, “Civilizations,” 21.

509 Innis, Bias, 86-87.

510 Carey, Communication as Culture, 123.