Rise Of Printing

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Society was directly affected by the rise of printing. Eisenstein (2010) discusses how the public became more privatized and local community ties began to weaken. She explains that a reading public is more disperse, to read a printed report encourages people to draw away from each other, this promotes a more individualistic public. In comparison, a hearing public results in people having to come together to hear an address being delivered (Eisenstein, 2010). Though local ties are being diminished, various doors are being opened and connections are being forged with the larger are distant people. In other words, groups of people are being connected that did not have the chance to connect prior to the invention of printing. Additionally, Eisenstein (2010) goes onto explain how if one wanted to communicate with someone in a hearing public, one was limited to …show more content…
Due to the fact that printing standardized writing, people’s words were stripped of their individualized value. Handwriting and one’s signature was essential to one’s writing and it’s personal touch, printing did not provide or value individualism. Additionally, printing brought entertainment into people’s homes. Printing was not solely used for factual purposes, but also to entertain the public. Furthermore,printing had an influence on how the public thought, and in response the society started to think more analytical. In her book, The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, Elizabeth Eisenstein (1980) discusses how printing changed people to make them separate individuals, meaning, since the printing press provided them with greater access to a variety of information, people were able to formulate their own opinions and beliefs. This allowed them to separate from the people around them and distinguish themselves as their own person (Eisenstein, 1980). This correlates back to the idea that the printing press privatized