Robert E Babe - Böcker

Many governments are pursuing with relentless vigor a neoconservative/transnational corporate program of globalization, privatization, deregulation, cutbacks to social programs, and downsizing of the public sector. Countries are forming into giant ?free trade? blocs. Increasingly they lack the will and desire to resist encroachments of world ?super

This book addresses the notorious split between the two fields of cultural studies and political economy. Drawing on the works of Harold Innis, Theodor Adorno, Raymond Williams, Richard Hoggart, E.P. Thompson, and other major theorists in the two fields, Robert E. Babe shows that political economy can be reconciled to certain aspects of cultural studies, particularly with regards to cultural materialism.Uniting the two fields has proven to be a complex undertaking though it makes practical sense, given the close interaction between political economy and cultural studies. Babe examines the evolution of cultural studies over time and its changing relationship with political economy. The intersections between the two fields center around three subjects: the cultural biases of money, the time/space dialectic, and the dialectic of information.

This book addresses the notorious split between the two fields of cultural studies and political economy. Drawing on the works of Harold Innis, Theodor Adorno, Raymond Williams, Richard Hoggart, E.P. Thompson, and other major theorists in the two fields, Robert E. Babe shows that political economy can be reconciled to certain aspects of cultural studies, particularly with regards to cultural materialism.Uniting the two fields has proven to be a complex undertaking though it makes practical sense, given the close interaction between political economy and cultural studies. Babe examines the evolution of cultural studies over time and its changing relationship with political economy. The intersections between the two fields center around three subjects: the cultural biases of money, the time/space dialectic, and the dialectic of information.

Wilbur Schramm and Noam Chomsky Meet Harold Innis is an original, critical, in-depth analysis of the media and communication thought of Canada’s most highly acclaimed scholar, Harold Adams Innis. Even in Canada, however, Innis’s writings until now have been only partially cited and interpreted: Innis is usually stereotyped as being merely an economic historian fixated on previous civilizations, whereas in fact he was an astute analyst whose main concerns were with present problems and future trajectories. In the United States, meanwhile, Innis’s media and communication writings have been quite neglected and even denigrated. Drawing on Innis’s less frequently cited work, including his long neglected Political Economy in the Modern State, Robert Babe opens up Innis’s media scholarship as a whole,unfolding it in startling critical, yet ultimately appreciative ways. By comparing Innis’s media scholarship with Wilbur Schramm's and Noam Chomsky's, moreover, Babe tests the claims, positions, and modes of analysis not only of Innis, but also of the other two celebrated scholars as well, casting new light on their works and allowing the reader to imagine what sort of discourses might have been possible had the three been in conversation together. Wilbur Schramm and Noam Chomsky Meet Harold Innis provides comparative insight into foundational media scholarship in the United States and Canada, and explores in some detail the relevance of Innis for twenty-first century digitized society.

Although there is a burgeoning interest among economists in "information economics", much of the literature adopts a reductionist conceptualization of information, defining it exclusively as reduction in uncertainty, exploring the implications of imperfect information on markets. This neoclassical treatment obscures major interrelations between economic and communicatory processes. Drawing on a range of scholarship from both the economic and communication studies disciplines, "Information and Communication in Economics" explores the implications for economic analysis and our understanding of economic processes of employing a more complete conceptualization of information: information as locus of power; information as evolutionary agent; and media systems as devices for control.

There is a fundamental contradiction between economics and ecology. Activities that increase well-being by economic criteria often erode ecosystem vitality, and what preserves and enhances environmental well-being is often deemed 'inefficient' to economic demands. Regrettably, in our culture, we usually accord much greater importance to economic concerns than to ecology. However, given many indicators of continued environmental degradation - escalating rates of species extinctions, global warming, the profusion of toxins in our air, water, and soil - it is increasingly urgent that economics be infused with ecological principles.In Culture of Ecology, Robert Babe proposes a move towards more ecologically-sound waysof thinking, communicating, and acting, including those usually termed 'economic.' His vision for a sustainable future entails recognizing and compensating for the inherent bias of all modes of communicating, reducing the centrality of money as a medium of communication, re-establishing systems of valuation outside the bounds of commodity exchange, and heightening equality to ease flows of information more in keeping with ecological realities. Culture of Ecology marks the beginning in a struggle to prove that, given the right approach, economy and ecosystem need not be mutually exclusive.

Canada has a rich heritage of English-language communication thought. For the first time "Canadian Communication Thought" assembles much of this erudition by introducing and examining the writings of ten foundational scholars: Graham Spry, Harold Innis, John Grierson, Dallas Smythe, C.B. Macpherson, Irene Spry, George Grant, Gertrude Robinson, Northrop Frye, and Marshall McLuhan. The author compares and critiques the thought of these ten sages, relates their writings to their biographies and to the Canadian physical and cultural environment, and compares their work to foundational American communication scholars. He finds that there is indeed a mode of theorizing that is 'quintessentially Canadian.' Compared with the work of foundational American writers, for instance, the Canadian literature is significantly more dialectical, ontological, holistic, and critical; it emphasizes to a much greater extent the impact of communication on social change; and it is more concerned with mediation and the formation and sustenance of culture and community. The Canadian writers are also much more engaged than their American counterparts with the question of power in communication - with what can generally be regarded as matters of political economy.Moreover, the wisdom of these ten experts is invaluable for understanding important issues of our day, for example: globalization, environmental deterioration, rapid technological change in the communication sphere, the erosion of privacy, the diminution of public space, the commodification of information and culture, growing disparities between rich and poor, identity and representation in the media, virtual realities, and the waning of democracy. The communication thought of these ten acclaimed scholars increases awareness of questions we should continually ask, provides important insight into how we can resolve current dilemmas, and invites us to consider possibilities for pursuing freedom, equality, justice, and peace in the early twenty-first century.

Canada has a rich heritage of English-language communication thought. For the first time "Canadian Communication Thought" assembles much of this erudition by introducing and examining the writings of ten foundational scholars: Graham Spry, Harold Innis, John Grierson, Dallas Smythe, C.B. Macpherson, Irene Spry, George Grant, Gertrude Robinson, Northrop Frye, and Marshall McLuhan. The author compares and critiques the thought of these ten sages, relates their writings to their biographies and to the Canadian physical and cultural environment, and compares their work to foundational American communication scholars. He finds that there is indeed a mode of theorizing that is 'quintessentially Canadian.' Compared with the work of foundational American writers, for instance, the Canadian literature is significantly more dialectical, ontological, holistic, and critical; it emphasizes to a much greater extent the impact of communication on social change; and it is more concerned with mediation and the formation and sustenance of culture and community. The Canadian writers are also much more engaged than their American counterparts with the question of power in communication - with what can generally be regarded as matters of political economy.Moreover, the wisdom of these ten experts is invaluable for understanding important issues of our day, for example: globalization, environmental deterioration, rapid technological change in the communication sphere, the erosion of privacy, the diminution of public space, the commodification of information and culture, growing disparities between rich and poor, identity and representation in the media, virtual realities, and the waning of democracy. The communication thought of these ten acclaimed scholars increases awareness of questions we should continually ask, provides important insight into how we can resolve current dilemmas, and invites us to consider possibilities for pursuing freedom, equality, justice, and peace in the early twenty-first century.

This book proposes that infusing mainline economics with more expansive and realistic conceptions of information/communication transforms static neoclassicism into evolutionary political economy. It results in modes of analysis that, when applied through policy, can lead to a sustainable future.

Political Economy in the Modern State is Harold Innis’s transitional and, in some respects, his most transformative book. Completed in 1946, it is a collection of fifteen chapters plus a remarkable Preface selected and crafted to address four main themes: the problem of power and peace in the post-War era; the ascent of specialized and mechanized forms of knowledge involving, most particularly, the media, the state, and the academy; the crisis facing civilization and, more generally, the modern penchant for unreflexive short-term thinking in the face of mounting contradictions; and Innis’s growing focus on what would be called media bias.In this new edition, editors Robert E. Babe and Edward A. Comor provide not only a general introduction to Innis’s largely forgotten book but also dedicated introductions to each of its fifteen chapters and a comprehensive index. Together, Babe and Comor demonstrate how Innis’s volume reflects a shift in Innis’s focus, away from analytical relativism towards, instead, a reflexive search for objective truths.

Political Economy in the Modern State is Harold Innis’s transitional and, in some respects, his most transformative book. Completed in 1946, it is a collection of fifteen chapters plus a remarkable Preface selected and crafted to address four main themes: the problem of power and peace in the post-War era; the ascent of specialized and mechanized forms of knowledge involving, most particularly, the media, the state, and the academy; the crisis facing civilization and, more generally, the modern penchant for unreflexive short-term thinking in the face of mounting contradictions; and Innis’s growing focus on what would be called media bias.In this new edition, editors Robert E. Babe and Edward A. Comor provide not only a general introduction to Innis’s largely forgotten book but also dedicated introductions to each of its fifteen chapters and a comprehensive index. Together, Babe and Comor demonstrate how Innis’s volume reflects a shift in Innis’s focus, away from analytical relativism towards, instead, a reflexive search for objective truths.