Print, Publics and Private Life
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| Despite censorship, increasingly numerous and varied printed materials served a growing literate public and led to the development of public opinion | 公共舆论 | gōng gòng yú lùn |
Public opinion is invented
- Despite censorship, increasingly numerous and varied printed materials served a growing literate public and led to the development of public opinion 公共舆论.
- The CED says led to the development of — public opinion is a new thing, not a permanent feature of societies.
- It needs a literate public, a supply of print and a subject people disagree about; the eighteenth century supplied all three.
The CED presents public opinion as something that...
It required a literate public, varied print and a contested subject.
Europeans read about other peoples
- Natural sciences, literature and popular culture increasingly exposed Europeans to representations of peoples outside Europe and, on occasion, challenges to accepted social norms.
- The CED's word is representations — accounts written by Europeans, not the peoples described.
- And on occasion those accounts were used to question European norms, which is how travel writing becomes political argument.
The CED says public opinion developed ____ censorship.
A claim about volume defeating control.
Art changed subject
- The arts moved from the celebration of religious themes and royal power to an emphasis on private life and the public good.
- That is a change of patron as much as of taste: buyers with money and no throne want different pictures.
- 2.7's Baroque promoted stature; this art depicts a family in a room, or a civic virtue.
A new thing, a change of subject, or a continuity?
Sort each element of cultural and intellectual life.
The CED's word "representations" indicates that these accounts were...
And on occasion they were used to question European norms.
Public opinion is presented as something that developed, not as a permanent feature of societies. It required a literate public, a supply of varied print and a subject people disagreed about — and the CED notes it appeared despite censorship, which is a claim about volume defeating control.
Select both things the arts moved away from.
The last two are what it moved toward.
The consumer revolution at home
- The consumer revolution of the 18th century was shaped by a new concern for privacy, encouraged the purchase of new goods for homes, and created new venues for leisure activities.
- 3.4 gave the consumer revolution its global cause; here the CED gives its domestic shape.
- A new concern for privacy is the link to 4.4's rooms with doors — the demand and the architecture arrive together.
The consumer revolution's domestic shape links to 4.4's rooms with doors.
A new concern for privacy — the demand and the architecture arrive together.
Maintained and changed
- The objective is how European cultural and intellectual life was maintained and changed.
- Changed: public opinion appears, art changes subject, consumption and leisure acquire new venues.
- Maintained: censorship persists, hierarchies of status hold, and religion continues in private life.
A censor can suppress a title and cannot suppress a topic once a dozen pamphlets have printed on it. What emerges is not one forbidden book but a conversation with participants who have never met — and the CED's phrase for that conversation is public opinion.
Despite censorship, increasingly numerous and varied printed materials served a growing literate public and led to the development of public opinion. Natural sciences, literature and popular culture exposed Europeans to representations of peoples outside Europe and sometimes to challenges to accepted norms. The arts moved from religious themes and royal power to private life and the public good. The consumer revolution was shaped by a new concern for privacy.