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Croteau, Media/Society, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
Chapter Outlines
Chapter 2: The Evolution of Media Technology
Purpose and Goals of the Chapter
Chapter 2 shifts the focus to the technological properties of various forms of mass
media, from print up to the early Internet. We also consider how social forces helped shape
these technologies, and these technologies have shaped public life in often unexpected ways.
As this chapter considers the social construction of media technologies, examining the social
and economic forces that shape the development and use of new technologies, we also
examine how the emergence of digital forms of media can help to reorganize the flow of
information in the sociological contexts. Ultimately, the chapter argues that media
technologies are both shaped by and help to construct social structure; in addition, how
human beings use various media, not just their technological properties, will shape their
social significance.
Outline of Key Chapter Themes
• Each medium has a different set of technological capabilities that evolved from its
embedment in social and public life.
• Explore the following concepts and their effect on media use:
o Technological Determinism
o Social Constructivism
o Autonomous Technology
o Technological momentum
• Medium theory explores an optimistic and pessimistic way that different media
technologies can alter patterns of communication.
• Provide a historical context for media technologies, from print to the Internet.
• Discussion of media often overemphasizes the determining role of technology in
processes of social change.
• Explore the history of the Internet and its defining communicative characteristics.
• Explore how the pervasiveness of the Internet is blurring the line between personal and
mass communication.
Chapter Outline
• The History of Media Technology
• Technological Determinism and Social Constructivism
o Technological Determinism
o Media’s Materiality
o “Autonomous Technology” and “Technological Momentum”
o Medium Theory
▪ McLuhan’s Optimism
Croteau, Media/Society, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
▪ Postman’s Pessimism
o Social Constructionism
• From Print to the Internet
o The Print Medium
o The Telegraph
o The Telephone
o Sound Recording
o Film and Video
o Radio Broadcasting
o Television
▪ Television and Daily Life
▪ Cable Television
o The Internet
▪ Creating the Internet
▪ The Internet Grows Up
▪ Some Characteristics of the Internet Era
• Conclusion
