Page 148 - Cultural Studies and Political Economy

Introduction to Part II

Part II consists of four essays, all appearing originally in Topia: Canadian
Journal of Cultural Studies, and all revised and given new titles for publica-
tion here. (Revision of a fifth Topia essay appears as chapter 4). The chapters
of part II focus in greater depth on topics or issues introduced in part I. More-
over, three of these chapters propose portals for dialogue between political
economy and cultural studies—means whereby the two scholarly fields, po-
litical economy and cultural studies, might resume productive dialogue.
Chapter 5, “Environment and Pecuniary Culture,” is (in part) a gloss on
McLuhan’s maxim, “culture is our business,” which opened the book. Con-
ceiving money as a space-biased medium of communication, the chapter am-
plifies previous treatments of Innis’ medium theory. Innis was wary of what
he termed the “penetrative powers of the price system,” and he regarded
money as a space-biased medium nonpareil. This chapter, however, develops
aspects of money’s impact well beyond those suggested by Innis. Treating
money as a culturally biased medium of communication is not only an excel-
lent way of reopening dialogue between cultural studies and political econ-
omy, it also enables deepened understanding of ecological/environmental
consequences of pecuniary culture and the price system.
Chapter 6, “Time and Space,” shows how two otherwise disparate authors,
namely philosopher/essayist John Ralston Saul and geneticist/ecologist David
Suzuki, independently developed variants of Innis’ time-space dialectic to
achieve an integrated understanding of culture and media power. By “triangu-
lating” Innis, Saul, and Suzuki, the power of the time-space dialectic as a “por-
tal for dialogue” between cultural studies and political economy becomes even
more apparent. Moreover, the chapter fills a gap in Innis’ writings regarding

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