The Printing Press and the Spread of Knowledge
Prior to the printing press learning, at scale to the masses, was very inefficient. There was learning by doing, oral tradition, or if you were lucky being part of certain restricted classes, such as the clergy. When Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press in the mid 15th century this changed for the majority of people in developed nations. Knowledge was now much more egalitarian in it's spread. The printing press allowed the masses to become educated.
The printing press made knowledge more affordable. Compared to previous methods of recording knowledge such as hand scribing, printing by press cost a fraction. Therefore the knowledge contained in writing was much cheaper for people to buy, allowing the lower economic classes to afford more reading materials. By 1470, many books cost about 1/5 of what they did prior to the innovation of the printing press.
The printing press allowed classes that previously lacked it, access to knowledge on many subjects. Before the printing press only a few privileged groups had access to recorded knowledge. Before the printing press knowledge was passed on by hand scribed documents that were available to privileged classes such as the clergy and noblemen. It was also passed on through oral tradition. The printing press allowed a single person a way to convey knowledge on a subject that was much more efficient than teaching individuals one at a time. Thousands could read the same book on carpentry in the same week, while one person might only be able to instruct a couple people in the subject at a time.
The printing press standardized language, allowing people to communicate more easily with each other. Thus more people gained an understanding of standard usage and grammar in English, French and German, improving literacy. It also had the second order effect of allowing some of those people who previously did not have this access the ability to write and convey their own knowledge. Tapping into classes beyond the nobles and clergy for information.
The printing press allowed the masses to become educated. Of course, a few individuals having control of the means of distributing knowledge became it's own issue. This is a matter for another time.
True, but the masses didn’t know how to read, so they had to learn how to read before they could use the printed materials and easier access to reading materials made it easier to teach them. Also, are there terms other than ‘first world’ that can be used because this term is not as acceptable these days.
ReplyDeleteThanks those are good points!
ReplyDeleteThe printing press indeed had a huge social and cultural impact afterwards! It was a pivotal moment in history! Weve come a long way to be able to have our own affordable printers where we can type up our own papers (or create images) and spread our knowledge far and wide! Although its origin had a different purpose, nowadays people like to casually print cat pictures and gush at it.
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