30 | Mass Media and Historical Change
To conclude, the findings so far have revealed that Gutenberg’s invention
was no ‘media revolution’ in the sense that it triggered sudden changes. Rather,
his innovation of media technology was embedded in a wide range of cultural
changes in the Middle Ages, and it required several decades to unfold its indi-
vidual forms, contents and impact.
Social and Cultural Consequences of Printing
The foregoing examples have already outlined many of the varied effects
directly linked with the new media. However, media scholars in particular,
as well as some historians, have stressed even more strongly the wide-rang-
ing social consequences resulting from the expansion of Gutenberg’s print-
ing technique. In doing so, they associated media change with processes of
modernisation, which paved the way to the Modern Era culturally, socially,
economically and politically (Giesecke 1991; Eisenstein 2005; Hörisch 2004;
Faulstich 2006a; McLuhan 2011). Most straightforward are doubtless those
effects which were directly linked to the printing technology. The expansion
and acceleration of text and image production led to a transnational consoli-
dation of communication, as print-works provided a common basis of refer-
ence. This advanced the academic network, whose foundation had its roots
in the Renaissance period, and facilitated the accumulation of knowledge for
other social strata. Simultaneously, this development improved the economic
relations between scholars and those businessmen who made printing and dis-
tribution possible (Eisenstein 2005: 28; Burke 2000: 20).
Also, printing resulted in a tangible rise of alphabetisation. Although more
recent studies reveal an increase in the number of literates around 1370 (i.e.
before the invention of printing), figures show that a considerably higher pro-
portion of laypersons learned to read in the sixteenth century (Neddermeyer
1998: 536). In East European countries, on the other hand, where the printing
trade initially had difficulties gaining ground, literacy rates rose only margin-
ally. It is debatable, however, to what extent reading practices changed – from
public readings to private, silent reading habits – but there is some evidence
that a shift began to take place as early as the Middle Ages (Stein 2006: 159;
Griep 2005: 197).
Other, more extensive theses on the social consequences of printing appear
convincing at first, but can be challenged by drawing a comparison to the
previously outlined development in Asia. Against the background of eco-
nomic aspects, McLuhan has argued that printing was able to develop modern
markets because it represented a central consumer good in itself (McLuhan
2011: 236). A glance towards Korea, however, proves that it was indeed pos-
sible for this new medium to expand primarily within a state-run distribution