Running Head: PRINTING AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF EUROPEAN SOCIETY
Printing and the Transformation of European Society
Candyce L. Pruitt
Southern Connecticut State University
ILS 518.S70
Professor Okobi
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PRINTING AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF EUROPEAN SOCIETY
Printing and the Transformation of European Society
Introduction and Thesis
Around 1450, Gutenberg invented the printing press which employed moveable, metal
type, and revolutionized printing and book production (Olmert, 1992). In doing so, Gutenberg
conglomerated the era’s five most advanced media for storing and disseminating information:
paper, ink, alphabetic language, the print process, and moveable type (Vacker, 2000). This
remarkable invention allowed for the mass production of printed materials such as books,
religious indulgences, and later, newspapers (Olmert, 1992). The invention of the printing press
represented a media revolution that greatly increased the production and dissemination of
information (Vacker, 2000). This information revolution, fueled by the invention of the printing
press, completely transformed European society, and contributed greatly to the rise of the
Industrial Revolution.
Body
The printing press significantly increased the amount of information that could be
produced and disseminated, and furthermore increased the rate at which this information could
be spread through both space and time (Vacker, 2000). The ingenuity of the printing press
furthermore increased the diversity of the information produced, and decreased the cost of
information production (Vacker, 2000). To obtain an understanding of the amount by which the
printing press increased the production and dissemination of information, approximately fifty
thousand books existed in the world at the time that the printing press was invented (Vacker,
2000). By 1500, only fifty years later, approximately ten million books were in existence
(Vacker, 2000). This remarkable increase in information production and distribution fueled an
information revolution that spread throughout Europe during the sixteenth century (Vacker,
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2000). This information revolution, and ultimately the invention of the printing press,
significantly transformed many different aspects of European society.
The invention of the printing press significantly impacted the information dynamics
within European society. The information revolution instituted by Gutenberg gave rise to the
societal notion of private reading of texts and printed books, achieved, in part, by the decreased
cost of information production (Finkelstein & McCleery, 2005). This effect partially
decentralized information authority and dissolved intellectual monopolies held for many
centuries by the church (Vacker, 2000). Information was now readily available to a significantly
increased number of people in European society. The printing press, in fact, was the media
technology that spread Enlightenment philosophy and Newtonian science (Vacker, 2000). This
spread of information throughout Europe lead to many more transformations of European
society.
This spread of information, for example, led to a direct increase in literacy and education,
and thus an indirect increase in individualism throughout Europe. The increased access to printed
information encouraged the spread of literacy among people who had no access to manuscripts
(Olson & Hildyard, 1985). Education then came to be associated with literacy, and was thus
achieved to a greater extent throughout Europe through the mass production of printed books and
periodicals (Vacker, 2000). This rise in literacy and education further contributed to an increase
in individualism observed throughout European society, as the mass production of books not
only gave rise to the notion of private reading of printed text, but also increased the individual
use of deductive reasoning and logic (Vacker, 2000). The fact that books were read individually,
along with the fact that they were often individually authored nourished the ideal of individual
reflection throughout Europe (Vacker, 2000). These increases in literacy, education, and
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individualism contributed greatly to many political and societal changes that soon took place in
Europe.
The notion of individualism and the increase in education and literacy led to an increase
in individuals’ criticism and dissent, which in turn, contributed to the development of certain
political ideals that later shaped history. Prior to the invention of the printing press, there was no
general theory regarding freedom of speech or freedom of press (Vacker, 2000). The rise of
individualism and education, which were fostered by the invention of the printing press,
however, gave rise to the individualistic ideals of freedom of press and freedom of speech under
a representative government (Vacker, 2000). These important notions later significantly shaped
the governments of many European and American societies. Without the invention of the
printing press, it is difficult to determine whether these notions would have developed, as
printing greatly contributed to the individualism and education that fostered these notions.
Along with these societal transformations that occurred in Europe, the invention of the
printing press also contributed greatly to the rise of the Industrial Revolution. During the
Industrial Revolution that took place during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, human labor
was substituted for mechanical processes that allowed for the mass production of many goods
throughout Europe (Finkelstein & McCleery, 2005). This mechanization and mass production
significantly increased the amount of goods produced, and significantly decreased their cost of
production (Drucker, 1999). Also associated with the Industrial Revolution was a period of
urbanization, in which factory workers migrated with their families to industrial centers
(Finkelstein & McCleery, 2005), and began to work outside of the home (Drucker, 1999).
Evidence suggests that the Industrial Revolution, and the societal changes associated with
it were ultimately the result of the invention of the printing press and the mass production of
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printed texts. Because the printing press employed a mass production process, it became a
prototype for the machines and assembly lines used in factories that were pivotal to the Industrial
Revolution (Vacker, 2000). Furthermore, more than three hundred years before the Industrial
Revolution, Gutenberg introduced into Europe the idea of interchangeable parts (Eisenstein,
1979). It was this theory that was the basis of the mass-manufacturing techniques that were
essential to the Industrial Revolution (Eisenstein, 1979). Through both the implementation of
mass production machinery, and the introduction of the theory of interchangeable parts,
Gutenberg’s invention was a major factor that contributed to the rise of the Industrial Revolution.
Conclusion
The invention of the printing press gave rise to much more than the mass production of
printed texts. Through its ability to mass produce printed books and texts at low cost, the printing
press significantly increased the production and dissemination of information throughout Europe,
which in turn spurred an information revolution. This information revolution completely altered
the information dynamics throughout European society, and further increased literacy, education,
and individualism throughout Europe. This increased literacy, education, and individualism gave
rise to important political notions of freedom of speech and press that later shaped European
society significantly. The invention of the printing press furthermore contributed to the rise of
the Industrial Revolution through its implementation of mass production processes and its
introduction of the theory of interchangeable parts to Europe. The invention of the printing press
therefore spurred an information revolution, which completely transformed European society,
and significantly contributed to the European Industrial Revolution.
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References
Drucker, P.F. (1999). Beyond the information revolution. The Atlantic Monthly, 284(4), 47-57.
Eisenstein, E.L. (1979). The printing press as an agent of change (Vols. 1-2). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Finkelstein, D. & McCleery, A. (2005). An introduction to book history. New York: Routledge.
Olmert, M. (1992). The Smithsonian book of books. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Books.
Olson, D.R., Torrance, N., & Hildyard, A. (1985).On the printing press as an advent of change.
In Literacy, language, and learning: the nature and consequences of reading and writing
(pp. 19-33). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Vacker, B. (2000). Global village or world bazaar? In A. Albarran & D. Goff (Eds.),
Understanding the Web: Social, political, and economic dimensions of the Internet.
Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press.