Harold Innis’s Dialectical Triad

Abstract

Perhaps Harold Innis’s most important yet least understood contribution to social science is the development of a relatively original dialectical materialist methodology. This methodology can be conceptualized in the form of a dialectical triad involving the categories "wealth," "knowledge" and "force." The author argues that a core component of this triad is the much misunderstood concept of "bias." Guided by Innis’s contribution, a modified form of class analysis — applicable to capitalist and non-capitalist social formations (including contemporary developments involving the emergence of a so-called "information economy") — is suggested as a possible and important project for future research.