Rogers' Theory of Diffusion (pictured above) is used to show and explain how a product gains momentum and spreads throughout a specific population or social system. (https://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/SB/BehavioralChangeTheories/BehavioralChangeTheories4.html#:~:text=Diffusion%20of%20Innovation%20%28DOI%29%20Theory%2C%20developed%20by%20E.M.,spreads%29%20through%20a%20specific%20population%20or%20social%20system.)
The Printing Press and it's growth replicate this theory very closely.
Innovators/Pioneers: The Printing Press was created by Johannes Gutenberg in 1436. The invention itself was seen as a great way to produce printed goods, but he found distribution to be a large challenge. He ended up dying penniless without figuring out how to distribute his printed material out to a larger populous.
Early Adopters: Distribution began being figured out soon enough. People travelling or going on voyages would take printed material with them to distribute around. Slowly, a global market was beginning.
Early Majority: The Market has now expanded quite bit, with the literacy rate slowly increasing as well as the number of books and other printed goods being produced. Religious, informative, and scientific texts were being produced and distributed at a rate never before seen in the world. The market was greatly expanding.
Late Majority: The Italian Renaissance began entering it's full swing because of the invention of the printing press. Printed goods became cheaper to produce and procure, so it wasn't just limited to the upper class. This allowed for more fringe voiced to be heard instead of just those in the upper class. It also disallowed for as much censorship as the upper class didn't have the same amount of control that they did when printed goods weren't as easy to make or get.
Laggards: There's not much to say here besides the fact that some people who were extremely poor did not have access to the printing press until later on when it became cheap enough to warrant it.
https://www.history.com/news/printing-press-renaissance
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