The Electrical Telegraph - MAS 110 Major Work

7/28/2019 The Electrical Telegraph - MAS 110 Major Work

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Critically analyse the electrical telegraph, explaining the social

contexts of its creation, how it shaped society, how society

shaped it, and how it has influenced contemporary

technology (if at all)

The electrical telegraph represented a broader societal shift away from

communal isolation, and towards the creation of a truly global community,

marked by the gradual effects of shrinking time and space. The electrical

telegraph came to shape and mould its era, and continued to shape

contemporary technology within the 21stCentury. Therefore, the creation of the

electrical telegraph in 1836 came to be one of the most influential technologies.

The electrical telegraph was created amidst a time of social and cultural change.

Developed in 1836, the electrical telegraph was created in a time of great

technological advances and innovation. The telegraph was, however, one of the

first technologies of the era that utilised electricity, which would later become a

challenge in the widespread adoption of the telegraph1. Additionally, it was also

a time of great hostility, particularly in the US, as portents of the Civil War were

threatening to tear it [USA] apart2. Importantly, the telegraph was also created

within a different economical mind frame, in that business was personal, and

1 Ely, R. (1889). The Telegraph Monopoly. The North American Review,

149(392), 44-532 Carey, J. Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society. Boston:

Unwin Hyman, chapter 8: pp. 201-230


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was conducted in a face-to-face manner3. Furthermore, there was a growing

sense of universalism, marked by the creation of the Brotherhood of Man. They

grew to believe that all people where the same, and that connectivity, which

truly began under the telegraph, would end communal isolation4. Therefore, it

can be seen that when the electrical telegraph was created, amidst a time of

social ideals and cultural change.

The electrical telegraph did not shape society in isolation, but rather, as it began

to shape society, society changed and shaped the function and nature of the

telegraph. An example of this would be the impact of the electrical telegraph on

economics. The telegraph ushered in the first great industrial monopoly,

Western Union5, and significantly re-wrote parts of the American Law during the

telegraph war, which was the fight over the ownership of the quadraplex

telegraph system6. The telegraph was a new and distinctly different force of

production that demanded a new body of law, economy theory, political

arrangements, management techniques, organisational structures and scientific

rationales7. As the telegraph came to shape economics, people also began to

shape the telegraph. For example, the decline of the process of arbitrage, brought

about by the improvements in communications technology, evened markets,

3 Headrick, D., & Griset, P. (2001). Submarine Telegraph Cables: Business and

Politics, 1839-1939. The Business History Review, 75(3), 543-5784 Carey, J. Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society. Boston:

Unwin Hyman, chapter 8: pp. 201-2305 Western Union Telegraph Building. (1875). The Aldine, 7(13), 258-2326 Carey, J. op. cit. pp. 201-2307 Ibid. pp. 201-230


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making them unresponsive to local supply and demand8. In addition to this,

commodity was sundered from its representation, meaning that trading could

proceed independently of the actual physical movement of goods9. Similar to the

concept of money, there was the changing notion of the economy of signal. The

telegraph physically shaped society, through the placement of telegraph poles

and wires10. Another societal change experienced under the telegraph was the

changing nature of language. The telegraph reworked the nature and language of

journalism. In order to be understood, the language of the telegraph demanded

one that was stripped of any local, regional, or colloquial terms11. The very

nature of the telegraph eliminated the correspondent who described events in

details, and replaced him with only the bare facts; as words were expensive on

the telegraph, it separated the observer from the writer12. The sparseness of

the telegraphic prose and the sheer volume of it, allowed news to be treated like

a commodity, it became something that could be transported, measured,

reduced, and timed13. Additionally, the electrical telegraph also changed the way

in which communication was thought about. The emergence of the Brotherhood

of Man represents the growing desire to reduce island communities, and also

changed the way in which people thought about time, in particular, the

8 Headrick, D., & Griset, P. (2001). Submarine Telegraph Cables: Business and

Politics, 1839-1939. The Business History Review, 75(3), 543-5789 Carey, J. Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society. Boston:

Unwin Hyman, chapter 8: pp. 201-23010 Holmes, E. (1993). Are Diffusion Models too Simple? A Comparison with

Telegraph Models of Invasion. The American Naturalist, 142(5), 779-79511 Carey, J. op. cit. pp. 201-23012 Ibid. pp. 201-23013 Hoag, C. (2006). The Atlantic Telegraph Cable and Capital Market Information

Flows. The Journal of Economic History, 66(2), 342-353


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standardising of it14. Furthermore, the birth of the telegraph heralded an almost

religious aspect. The idea of electricity, and electronic messages was an entirely

new concept, with users referring to telegraph as rhetoric of the electrical

sublime15. Moreover, the telegraph generated the ground conditions for

domestic and international imperialism. To Carey, it is of no accident that the

words empire and imperialism entered the language in 1870, soon after the

laying of the transatlantic cable16. Until the transatlantic cable, it was difficult to

determine whether British colonial policy was being set in London, or by colonial

governors in the field. It was the cable and the telegraph, backed by sea power,

that turned colonialism into imperialism. Therefore, it can be seen that the

electrical telegraph did not shape society in isolation, but rather the two forces

shaped each other together.

It can be seen that the electrical telegraph had a profound impact on its original

society and context; however, the improvements and conventions established by

the electrical telegraph have also come to influence contemporary technologies

and society. One of the most far-reaching influences of the telegraph, was the

separation of communication and transport17. No longer did trains and other

forms of transport deliver messages, but rather, it was conducted by the much

faster service of the electrical telegraph. Therefore, it can be seen that the

14 Du Boff, B. (1980). Business Demand and the Development of the Telegraph in

the United States, 1844-1860. The Business History Review, 54(4), 459-47915 Carey, J. Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society. Boston:

Unwin Hyman, chapter 8: pp. 201-23016 Ibid. pp. 201-23017 Panayiota, T. (2009). Reconceptualising Time and Space in the Era of

Electronic Media and Communications. Journal of Media and Communication,

26(1), 11-32


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electrical telegraph paved the way for globalisation, as it began to shrink time

and space. This notion of shrinking time and space, also relates to the

development of contemporary technologies, such as Instant Messaging, which

allows for instantaneous messages to be sent worldwide18. Additionally, the

technological power of the telegraph led to the standardisation of time within

the US, which has come to have a massive influence on modern society19.

Therefore, the electrical telegraph had an extensive impact and influence on

contemporary technology and society.

In conclusion, it can be seen that the electrical telegraph was a pivotal and

essential technology. It represented a broader societal shift away from

communal isolation, and towards the creation of a truly global community,

coming to shape and mould its era; it continued to shape contemporary

technology within the 21stCentury. Therefore, it can be seen that the creation of

the electrical telegraph came to be one of the most influential technologies.

18 Panayiota, T. (2009). Reconceptualising Time and Space in the Era of

Electronic Media and Communications. Journal of Media and Communication,

26(1), 11-3219Carey, J. Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society. Boston:

Unwin Hyman, chapter 8: pp. 201-230


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Bibliography

American Electromagnetic Telegraph: A Classic Invention. (1930). The Science

News-Letter, 18(485), 54-59

Carey, J. Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society. Boston: Unwin

Hyman, chapter 8: pp. 201-230

Downay, G. (2003). Telegraph Messenger Boys: Crossing the borders between

history of technology and human geography. The Professional Geographer,

55(2), 134-145

Du Boff, B. (1980). Business Demand and the Development of the Telegraph in

the United States, 1844-1860. The Business History Review, 54(4), 459-479

Ely, R. (1889). The Telegraph Monopoly. The North American Review, 149(392),44-53

Headrick, D., & Griset, P. (2001). Submarine Telegraph Cables: Business and

Politics, 1839-1939. The Business History Review, 75(3), 543-578

Hoag, C. (2006). The Atlantic Telegraph Cable and Capital Market Information

Flows. The Journal of Economic History, 66(2), 342-353

Holmes, E. (1993). Are Diffusion Models too Simple? A Comparison with

Telegraph Models of Invasion. The American Naturalist, 142(5), 779-795

Kapadia, J. (2005). Telegraph. Rethink Marxism: A Journal of Economics, Culture &

Society, 17(4), 512-523

Lusk, H. (1904). The Australian Telegraph System. The North American Review,

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Panayiota, T. (2009). Reconceptualising Time and Space in the Era of Electronic

Media and Communications.Journal of Media and Communication,26(1), 11-

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Financial Crisis of 1873.Journal of Cultural Economy, 5(2), 197-212

The Electrical Telegraph - MAS 110 Major Work

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