alaxy to refer to the constellation of mentalities, thought patterns, and cultural forms of characteristic of societies organized around the written and printed word as the medium of communication (Garner, 407). Writing and print shape a different mentality or form of consciousness. Thought became highly linear, sequential, and analytical. For McLuhan, writing is a hot medium, a medium that forces a specific interpretation on the receiver of the message. Riesmans inner-directed character centres around industrialization. There was an intensity and driveness about the inner-directed, whether they were moralistic or ruthless and greedy. They tended to adhere more to internalized values even when separated from community and family. These are entrepreneurs. The third transition centres around present-day. The final transition according to McLuhan took society into electronic media societies. In these societies television became the symbol of a new era. People are more active than before. There is more freedom of choice. The used the term re-tribalization because it was almost a return to the oral society mentality. Television brought people together. He also referred to this as the global village. Thirdly Riesman wrote about the other-directed personality type. This personality type is characteristic of advanced capitalist societies that focus more on services and consumption than on production. In these societies, the mass media manipulate ones needs to increase the level of economic consumption. Individuals tend to adjust to external pressures and demands instead of relying on an internal gyroscope, a predetermined program. The key metaphor here is the radar: other-directed people tend to change their behaviour suddenly according to their social environment. Radio extended some of the characteristics of writing. For McLuhan, radio is a particularly hot medium, that rapidly brought into existence a generation of political orat...
