AHSS*1060 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Fourth Estate, Voicemail, Social Responsibility
Mass Communication - AHSS 1060
Chapter 3: Media: History and Canadian Context
The European Roots of Media and Western Society
1. The Middle Ages
-Feudal System: economic and social
class structure were inherited by birth
-Justified through the power of the Church
- “It’s God’s plan that you were born a
peasant.” People didn’t want to fight
against God and the land owners.
-Weight of the law backed up by God’s
Commands
2. The Renaissance
-Rebirth of new ideas/concepts
-When Christian crusaders battled with
Muslims over Jerusalem, they retrieved
texts from Plato, Aristotle, Socrates etc.
through interactions w/muslim scholars
(who preserved these texts).
-Returned to the classical teachings of
ancient Greece and Rome, the
emergence of humanism
-Humanism: the ability for humans to determine truth for themselves and
achieve great things on their own
-Marked by the development of Gutenberg’s printing press (1454)
➔Printing presses disseminated (spread) ideas and literacy
➔New ideas from other regions could lead to social change and
destabilization
3. The Reformation (Protestant)
-Martin Luther criticized the Catholic Church and advocated a more
individual relationship with God (Catholic Church had their own accepted
interpretation of the bible which became the official beliefs for everyone)
-Printing of the Bible made it more accessible to people, weakening the
power of the Church
4. Counter-Reformation (backlash): Re-establishment of Church and state as heads
of power through censorship and control of printing and publishing
5. Age of Reason/the Enlightenment
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