The Printing Press: The beginning the spread of mass literacy
The Printing Press: Beginning the spread of mass literacy
Prior to the invention of the printing press, books were laboriously copied by hand. This meant that books were expensive and rare, thus generally only found among the ruling class, the wealthy, or in the church. Therefore, overall literacy rates were low in Europe heading into the 15th century.
Originally, books were written to be read aloud to a crowd or group (Ong, 1982). In a way, the ability to read gave the elite a power over the masses, they were the conveyer of ideas, and in an almost magical way they turn letters on a page into speech. With low literacy rates, common people couldn’t look things up, check the legality of a contract, or even interpret the words in the bible themselves, they always would have to turn to an authority figure, whether a lawyer or priest, to tell them what is true – whether what they were told is actually true or false. Illiterate masses had no choice to but to trust them.
However, with the invention of the printing press, the speed of reproducing literature grew exponentially. This eventually led to massive changes. Over the next few centuries the mass production of books, journals, and newspapers became commonplace (Bolter, 2001). Leading to the common man having a need/desire to become literate. One can imagine life in this time, where an average citizen may never travel beyond the edges of their towns or counties, all of a sudden beginning to have access to stories, news, and ideas from around the known world. Much the way that the internet has broadened the lives or the current generation, the printed book must have done the same for society in the 15th century.
Once people had access to written information, they could critically examine what they were being told. For example, the split of Protestants from the Catholic Church was likely driven in a large part by the mass spreading of reformation ideology (Einenstein, 1980). Of course there were other factors to the split, but increasing literacy and mass produced books surely were significant factors. Now people didn’t have to go to authority figures for everything, as more and more people learned to read they could then increasingly think for themselves and read books to find what they were looking for. The mass printed book would undermine the authority of the church and the ruling class.
As well, the mass printing of scientific journal led to a scientific explosion. Scientists’ ideas could be spread throughout the world, be critically examined, and built upon. The scientific revolution was enabled by the printing press, because incremental changes could be recorded and shared, essentially building knowledge. Again, this parallels the modern internet explosion, and once again we see an immense increase in the amount of shared information. Of course like now, not every shared theory or ideas was accurate, but as a whole, then and now, we are learning at an ever increasing pace, made possible by the mass sharing of books and documents.
It is important to note that the printing press and mass literacy is only one aspect of change in the complicated history of the western world.
References:
Bolter, J. D. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print. Routledge.
Eisenstein, E. L. (1980). The printing press as an agent of change (Vol. 1). Cambridge University Press.
Ong, W. J. (1982). Orality and literacy: The technology of the word. New York: Methuen.
I find our readings really interesting in that the feelings and views on the changes that happen in writing technologies seem to repeat with each change. As you mentioned, the invention of the printing press allowed more people to become literate thus changing the balance of power. People were more aware of what was going on in the world around them, as they no longer had to rely on authority figures to tell them what was written. Similarly, the Internet has allowed us to have an even greater connection to our world. Our access to information is practically instantaneous and this again shifts the balance of power. People are more aware through online news sites and social media sites, and this makes everyone from politicians to teachers to doctors more accountable for what they say and do. Those who were once seen as authority figures and trusted and respected for their knowledge, no longer hold the same esteem, as anyone is capable of finding answers on the Internet. I can imagine that this same thing happened when printed text first became commonplace and the lawyers, priests and other authorities felt, as we’ve seen in our readings, that this would be to the detriment of the human race. Similarly, as you mentioned about books only being available to the upper class, computers, tablets and phones have only in recent years become the norm, with those not using some form on technology with online capabilities being a rarity. It takes a bit, when a change occurs, for it to catch on, but then slowly the value of the change is seen!
Hi Jesse,
Your comment in the second paragraph regarding books being read to crowds of people before the printing press was created made me think if this was the best way to learn or has the book improved that? I think the book has made it easier for teachers and students to teach and learn independently but has it really improved the comprehension? I agree with your statements that throughout the next couple centuries after the printing press, in order to be productive in our society that you would need to become literate. I think it would be very difficult these days to be successful without being able to read, however, the internet or specifically text to speech apps might change that. Obviously everybody comprehends differently but I think there’s a good proportion of our society that comprehends information better verbally then by reading. Durrell states in the Journal of Reading that “A high competence in each reading and listening comprehension is essential for superior academic achievement; a weakness in either ability is detrimental to learning in most subject areas. A combination of results from listening and reading comprehension tests provides an estimate of the pupil’s language learning potential” (Durrell, 1969).
A group of researchers also found that the difference between listening and reading comprehension decreases with increasing grade levels, meaning that listening comprehension starts off more useful during the younger years (grade 2, 4) but eventually matches that of reading comprehension around grade 6. (Diakidoy, 2004). Understanding this makes me think technology will be coming around the corner that might help comprehension and how might educators use this new type of technology?
Durrell, D. Journal of Reading. Vol. 12, No. 6 (Mar., 1969), pp. 455-460. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40012907
Diakidoy, Stylianou, Karefillidou, Papageorgiou. Reading Psychology 12/2004; 26(1):55-80. DOI: 10.1080/02702710590910584.
Nicely written Jesse and a fabulous picture.
I will add some thoughts to your points about the role of printing in advancing literacy for the common man.
More particularly, how literacy developed among the populace and whether it was attributed to the printing press or other factors, such as the education systems of the day (formal and informal).
Clement (1997) claimed there was an independent book trade operating outside the monasteries and universities as early as the late 12th century. The buyers of these books could only have been aristocrats or grammar schools. They were the only areas of society outside the monasteries and universities that had literacy skills and therefore could teach others to read.
With population growth of the aristocratic class, it is not hard to imagine that literacy rates rose among that sector of society. Not only that, but rich men founded grammar schools. This was very much the case in the 16th century (http://www.localhistories.org/education.html).
Clement (1997) states, “the emergence of a literate middle class in the later Middle Ages created a demand for new types of books. These tended to be popular works of a recreational or technical nature, which were often in the vernacular.” Not only were aristocrats supporting and establishing grammar schools, they were also reading more widely. The printing industry operated to meet their demand, not to create a demand.
Clement (1997) described mass production BEFORE the arrival of the printing press. He stated: “Books seem most often to have been made to order, but also occasionally for speculation … Some orders were large: in 1437 a wholesale bookseller sent an order to a scriptorium in the Low Countries for 200 copies of the Seven Penitential Psalms, 200 copies of Cato’s Disticha in Flemish, and 400 copies of a small prayer book. Such an order implies true mass production and the development of the production line approach in which different workers consistently and repetitiously labored at specific tasks, perhaps even dividing the types of labor on a single book between different shops.”
The 1437 order was likely an order for books placed by monasteries or universities. Mass production to meet the demand of monasteries and universities (the main centres of education in the 1400s) means that the formal education system was on a mission to increase literacy. The books used then were manuscripts not books off the printing press.
For sure, printing presses increased the production capacity and efficiency of book publishing, but the demand side of the demand-supply equation seems to be information needs of the literate class and organic (if not political) expansion of educational institutions.
The poorer children only had opportunities to learn from priests (http://www.localhistories.org/education.html) . Any rise in literacy rates among the ‘common man’ had to be either due to the goodwill of the churches or a factor of government or institutional policy (e.g. equitable access to learning).
I think it makes for interesting study to explore how literacy developed and to understand the demand factors in printing, as it helps us to question any direct causal link between a printing invention and literacy outcomes.
References
A history of education
http://www.localhistories.org/education.html
Clement, R. W. (1997). The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies
http://www.the-orb.net/encyclop/culture/books/medbook1.html
Thanks Janette and Jennifer for you comments.
Jannette thanks for adding to the discussion and highlighting another aspect of the growth in literacy. Absolutely education and the resulting growing demand must have played a very large factor in spreading literacy. Publishers wouldn’t be printing books if they didn’t have a market to sell to, and education was a huge factor. I wonder if education grew with the widespread availability of books. Or if education spread first and created the larger demand. I didn’t research education for my post, but I am curious about it’s role in literacy, logically it must have played a significant role.
The point I was going for was that before the printing press there simply wasn’t enough books written to supply the needs of people. I’m sorry I don’t have the exact reference in front of me now, but from my reading I learned that in the early 1400’s the total number of books was something around the tens of thousands, but in a very short time after the printing press all of sudden there were millions of books and best sellers were selling more than half a million copies of one book alone. So while an order of 800 books prior to the printing press was significant, it is exponentially smaller than what was happening within a few short years. Along with books were new items like newspapers that weren’t cost effective before mass printing was created. I wonder if the working class would have become literate if books and newspapers didn’t become so widely available?
Hi Jesse,
I think that the working class probably would not have become literate had it not been for these things! I am sure things would be extremely different all around if such an invention had not occurred. The same is true for the Web. Imagine how different our lives would be without it! Sometimes we gripe and worry about its implications, but really it has many benefits. Such as courses online! 🙂