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From pen to print - a revolution in communications? - The case against a 'print revolution

4 important questions on From pen to print - a revolution in communications? - The case against a 'print revolution

What wider revolution was print part of, according to some scholars?

Reluctant to place so much emphasis on one new technology, some scholars argue that print was just part of a wider revolution in early modern communications.
Print depended on systems of distribution for its impact (and profitability), requiring improvements in marketing and in transport.
Better roads, ships, canals, and postal services served to shrink space and time; and these networks were a precondition for the growth of printed news.

Was oral culture replaced by print culture?

Moreover, oral culture was neither undermined nor replaced by 'print culture'. Rather, print and oral cultures coexisted in mutually reinforcing and stimulating ways: what was talked about found its way into print, and what was printed was talked about, while most popular print was 'performative', especially sermons, plays, dialogues, stories, and ballads.

How was the spread of information reframed in the print revolution?

The case for a print revolution argues that it was instrumental in spreading knowledge and information. Yet it could also spread disinformation and uncertainty. Paradoxically, although print 'fixed' texts, it could also disseminate errors.

How did the print revolution help the Ancien Regime?

The print revolution did not necessarily undermine the Ancien Regime and even strengthened it. Printed satires may have helped to weaken notions of a sacred monarchy or an infallible Church, but traditional religious texts, sermons, schoolbooks, proclamations, and government apologists served to defend it, and were trusted.
Better communications and standardized printed forms facilitated processes of bureaucratization, centralization, and fiscal militarization.
Moreover, the financial revolutions of the eighteenth century, which attracted private money into governmental debts and loans, leaned heavily on information supplied by newspapers.

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Early Modern History

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