34 | Mass Media and Historical Change
Judging from intuition, one may plausibly argue that the establishment of
print media cultivated logical rationalism: an assumption hardly to be proved.
According to some research, it was not just the printed contents of texts, but
to a much greater extent their new medial formation which changed peo-
ple’s mindsets, its power lying in the argumentative and rule-governed new
structure (McLuhan 2011). Claims have also been made that higher literacy
rates contributed to enhancing the capacity for abstract thinking. The fact that
printing enabled an increase in the use of display formats such as diagrams,
charts and maps (i.e. illustrations not suited for public reading) has also been
seen as an aid to improving abstraction skills and rationalism. Neil Postman
developed this assumption even further by claiming that reading and abstrac-
tion skills had been necessary to create a gap between adults and children, and
thus constitute childhood (Postman 2011: 20).
Evidently, the establishment of printing also had political implications for
power relationships, social communities and political order. Media scholars
have postulated that printing activated critique on authorities and the demise
of hierarchies, because printed text assumed a new authority (Postman 2011:
23–33). Early political protests, particularly the Reformation and the German
Peasants’ War, 1524 to 1526, serve as examples (Beyer 1994: 85–88). Essen-
tially it can hardly be contested that chapbooks and pamphlets established a
form of discourse in the broadest sense by challenging political authorities and
thus forcing them to justify themselves and their actions – in some cases at
least (Harline 1987: 227; Körber 1998: 381). On the other hand, at the same
time, according to Michael Schilling, printing led to stricter regimentation
and disciplinary action on the part of the sovereigns by means, for example,
of printed legal documents such as police orders, or texts on moral standards
(Schilling 1990: 215).
How far the invention of printing was able to alter existing social orders
can be highlighted particularly well using the example of the Reformation.
The connection between the Reformation and media change has been stressed
by representatives of various academic disciplines. It is thought that print-
ing was directly responsible for the outcome of the Reformation (Eisenstein
2005: 208; Burkhardt 2002: 35–48), which is thereby conceived as a media
event (Hamm 1996). It has been referred to as a revolution of religion and
communication which brought about a structural change in sacral commu-
nication (Lottes 1996: 252, 260). Undisputed is the fact that new media not
only influenced the Reformation, but that the Reformation in turn shaped
the media landscape by causing it to expand, become vernacular and develop
new formats. In spite of all this, a comprehensive media history on the Refor-
mation period has not been attempted, even though Anglo-Saxon literature,
in particular, addresses the issue of Reformation ‘propaganda’ more than once
(Scribner 1981; Edwards 1994; Gilmont 1998).