The History and Power of Writing

Dados Bibliográficos

ID11089280
AutoresW Griswold (0000-0002-2283-0000, autor correspondente), Henri-Jean Martin, Lydia G Cochrane
Ano1995
Volume24
Fascículo4
Páginas405
Data de publicação1995-07-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoContemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0094-3061 • E-ISSN: 1939-8638
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2307/2077693
OpenAlexW1982598347
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas29

This study is the story of from its very beginnings to its recent transformations through technology. Traversing four millennia, Martin offers a chronicle of as a cultural system, a means of communication and a history of technologies. He shows how the written word originated, how it spread and how it figured in the evolution of civilization. Using as his centre the role of printing in making the written way of thinking dominant, Martin examines the interactions of individuals and cultures to produce new forms of writing in the many senses of authorship, language rendition and script. Martin looks at how much the development of owed to practical necessity, and how much to religious and social systems of symbols. He describes the precursors to and reveals their place in early civilization as devices in service of the spoken word. The tenacity of the oral tradition plays an important part in this story as, even as late as the 18th century, educated individuals were trained in classical rhetoric and preferred to rely on the arts of memory. Finally, Martin discusses the changes to wrought by the electronic revolution, offering insights into the influence these new technologies have had on children born into the computer age

Physics · Power (physics · Thermodynamics · History · Media, Communication, and Education