Print capitalism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Print capitalism is a theory coined by Benedict Anderson, underlying the concept of the nation being the product of imagined community, emerging through a common language and discourse generated through the use of the printing press. In tandem, it contends that print was proliferated through the emergence of, and participation in, the capitalist marketplace. Capitalist entrepreneurs printed their books and media in the vernacular (instead of exclusive script languages, such as Latin) in order to maximize circulation. As a result, readers speaking various local dialects became able to understand each other, and a common discourse emerged. Anderson argued that the first European nation-states were thus formed around their "national print-languages."[1] The concept is explained in depth in his 1983 book Imagined Communities.
