Western society is a term that is widely known and its values, politics, technology and

ideology has an immense influence in the world today. It is perhaps most visible in the

way western popular culture dominates global print-, visual-, and aural media. It is a well

stated fact that it doesn’t matter where you are in the world – its influence is visible

almost everywhere. This essay will explore how print media have been implicated in the

modernization of western society and the rise of popular culture. It will be argued that

western society owes a great deal to its position in the world today mainly to print media.

The essay will illustrate this by showing how political, technological and socio-economic

forces were empowered with the introduction and effective use of print media through the

development of western society. The terms western society, modernization and popular

culture are vast and complex terms, and their definitions are constantly challenged and

changed. Therefore, This essay will be limited to looking at print media and its impact in

Western and Central Europe, starting from the beginning of the era of print. Because the

very central core of print media, its very nature, is that it has always consciously been a

tool of opposition, a means of empowerment.

Print media as a means of political-economical empowerment has a very extensive

history, and often it is a mixture of social and technological elements as well. Anderson

illustrates how print media was used for this, by contrasting how capitalism is

inexplicably connected to the emergence of print, to the development of the nation:

“The coalition between Protestantism and print-capitalism, exploiting

cheap popular editions, quickly created large reading publics…and

simultaneously mobilized them for politico-religious purposes.”

(Anderson1983, p40):
This, he says, set the stage for the modern nation. The way ideologies and vernaculars

were centralized and certain languages were concentrated, was pertinent to how print

media was used extensively to maintain control over vast distances, by creating standards

and building a national identity. Thus, print was an ideal means of empowerment, not

only by their command of an effective bureaucracy, as D. Lacy points out, “but also their

newly acquired ability to make their laws, decrees, and judicial decisions widely and

uniformly known throughout their realms.” (Lacy 1996,p 91). Political theory could

flourish, because print was permanent, it meant other states could easily emulate and

adopt its own political system. Lacy also cites Anderson (1983) on how the centralization

of languages led to the downfall of the fragmented, multinational power structures that

had dominated Europe. (Lacy 1996, p 77). Perhaps the most important point is that the

growth and spread of print was confined to Western- and Central Europe. The mastering

of print was ultimately what made Europe become the political-economic dominant for

many hundred years. But even though the image of the national community was

strengthened, there were other unique communities that emerged alongside.

The rise of print media also created the possibility for important progress in technology

and science. This is a point that Anderson goes little into, but Lacy sees. The way in

which print was most important, was perhaps in the simple fact of accessibility. As a

result of print, science entered a new era of progress, creating a large body of knowledge

in which a researcher could share his work, and get feedback on it with the rest of

Europe. The science of discovery would also not be the same and Lacy also contrasts the

discovery of America with the impact of print:

 “European voyagers had been reaching out for centuries…But because

there was no effective means of publicizing their experience they passed

into the mists if legend and were forgotten without contributed to the

knowledge or the settlement of the New World. How different it was when

Columbus stumbled on the Bahamas in his search for the Orient and the

report of his discovery was in print and widely read within a year of his

return.”

(Lacy 1996, p90)

The net result of this was that Europe had transformed itself, becoming the center of

power in the world (Though ridden with conflict in all its glory). Another extremely

important part other that political and technological, was the great change in the social

structure of Europe which effects still are apparent in today’s society.

Another factor that came with a society that progresses economically and technologically,

is wealth. Ironically, the very tool that gave nations their awesome power, would be the

one thing that would bend it to its knees. In the hands of the growing bourgeois, print

media was used as a means to oppose authority and take political and social power away

from the aristocrats. As the readership had grown, the author gained a new position. Ian

Watt in his studies on the influence of the Novel mentions among others Defoe,

Richardson and Fielding as some of the most influential writers. He goes on to clarify

that although books were expensive in the 18 hundreds, Robinson Crusoe was a novel

that was first serialized by Defoe in The Original London Post. (Watt 1957, p42). So

people in the lower middle classes had the opportunity to read literature with political

meaning that was defiant of higher authority. Newspapers started popping up,
questioning aristocratic policy and the monarchy. Both Watt and Sebeny-Mohammadi

refer to Habermas’ idea of “public” and “private” spheres, where political and other

topics in the print media were discussed by the bourgeois (Sebeny-Mohammadi 1995,

p77). Terry Lovell in her feminist studies and indeed J. Hartley have nuanced Habermas’

ideas, claiming that these spheres aren’t that separate at all, and an important point, that

Hartley makes, is the development of empowerment to the popular press. Furthermore, he

elaborates the importance of especially the French revolution. The power of print media

as a form of opposition, and a medium for democracy paved the way for modernity,

which Hartley defines as “the transfer of power from monarch to the people.” (Hartley

1996, p85)

To summarize, this essay has shown through various examples in political-economical,

technological and social growth, how print media has been a driving force, and a

significant instrument in empowerment. It has showed how print media is vital in western

society’s position in the world today and how it modernized itself by shifting of power

from a monarchial society to democracy through the means of media such as newspapers

and literature. It shows how Anderson, Sebeny-Mohammadi and Lacy concentrate on the

more political and economical aspects, with Lacy touching the importance of social

elements, nuanced by Hartley, who takes on the point of view of the readership, and also

illuminates the popular press’ role in being implicated in this process. An interesting

question that perhaps should be looked into; is if, and how print media have been

implicated in the post modernisation of western society.

Bibliography:

Anderson, B. (1983) “The Origins of National Consciousness”, in, Imagined

Communities, London, verso

Sebeny-Mohammadi, A. (1995) “Forms of Media As Ways of Knowing”,in, J. Downing

et. al(eds), Questioning the Media: an Introduction (2nd ed), Thousand oaks, Sage

Lacy, D. (1996) “Printing”, in, From Grunts to Gigabytes, USA University of Illinois

Press’

Hartley, J. (1996) “Introduction”, in, Popular Reality: Journalism, Modernity, Popular

Culture, London, Arnold Hodder, pp. 1-30

(note: above taken from KCB 140 readings for semester 1, QUT, and all pagenumbers in essay correspond

to the readings)

Watt, I. (1957) “The Reading Public and The Rise of The Novel”, in, The Rise of The

Novel, London, Chatto&Windus

Habermas, J (1979)