Marshall McLuhan on society and its history: More than half a century later

The purpose of the study was to investigate the concept of a Canadian philosopher and media theorist Marshall McLuhan in the light of the current ideas about society, civilization, and history. The paper identifies the main methodological principles of McLuhan’s analysis of society and its history, shows some flaws of this concept and unfulfilled forecasts, meanwhile highlighting some remarkably accurate predictions and scenarios of the development of historical consciousness. The issue of intergenerational relations and the way media influences them is examined. Three types of culture are described: oral, written and electronic. The paper concludes on the specifics of the perception of “history” by people from different types of cultures.

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