Editing Printing (section)

===Social impact===
Print gave a broader range of readers access to knowledge and enabled later generations to build directly on the intellectual achievements of earlier ones without the changes arising within verbal traditions. Print, according to [[John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton|Acton]] in his 1895 lecture ''On the Study of History'', gave "assurance that the work of the [[Renaissance]] would last, that what was written would be accessible to all, that such an occultation of knowledge and ideas as had depressed the [[Middle Ages]] would never recur, that not an idea would be lost".<ref name="Briggs-Burke" />
[[File:Press1520.png|thumb|upright|Bookprinting in the 16th century]]
Print was instrumental in changing the social nature of reading.

[[Elizabeth Eisenstein]] identifies two long-term effects of the invention of printing. She claims that print created a sustained and uniform reference for knowledge and allowed comparisons of incompatible views.<ref>Eisenstein in Briggs and Burke, 2002: p. 21</ref>

[[Asa Briggs]] and [[Peter Burke (historian)|Peter Burke]] identify five kinds of reading that developed in relation to the introduction of print:
# Critical reading: Because texts finally became accessible to the general population, critical reading emerged as people were able to form their own opinions on texts.
# Dangerous reading: Reading was seen as a dangerous pursuit because it was considered rebellious and unsociable, especially in the case of women, because reading could stir up dangerous emotions such as love, and if women could read, they could read love notes.
# Creative reading: Printing allowed people to read texts and interpret them creatively, often in very different ways than the author intended.
# Extensive reading: Once print made a wide range of texts available, earlier habits of intensive reading of texts from start to finish began to change, and people began reading selected excerpts, allowing much more extensive reading on a wider range of topics.
# Private reading: Reading was linked to the rise of individualism because, before print, reading was often a group event in which one person would read to a group. With print, both literacy and the availability of texts increased, and solitary reading became the norm.

The invention of printing also changed the occupational structure of European cities. [[Printer (publisher)|Printers]] emerged as a new group of artisans for whom literacy was essential, while the much more labour-intensive occupation of the [[scribe]] naturally declined. Proof-correcting arose as a new occupation, while a rise in the numbers of [[bookselling|booksellers]] and librarians naturally followed the explosion in the numbers of books.