The Scientific Revolution marks a span of time where scientific advancement greatly changed the societal views of entire cultures, and threatened traditional ideas and beliefs. These discoveries founded the basis for math, astronomy, physiology, and philosophy. Most historians agree that this period begins with Copernicus and ends with Newton. This period in time challenged cultures to reevaluate their understanding of the world around them, and the spaces beyond.
Like most periods of change, this one spans across a timeline of hundreds of years. Scientists and philosophers had an extremely difficult time overcoming the influence of religion and major church institutions. Galileo was not well received at first and was eventually barred from churches because of the truths that he discovered. Some researchers even argue that the Scientific Revolution can be broken down into many smaller revolutions that were lead by major scientists and their schools of followers.
Some say that the work of Aristotle often impeded the furthering of new scientific ideas. The new ideas discovered by scientists often disproved many of the findings of early Greek scientists. As this happened more frequently scientists of the time became dissatisfied with the findings of ancient scientists. This caused these researchers to revisit past experiments and make their own discoveries. Many of which lead to major advancements in modern thinking and reasoning. These new findings forced people to rethink their place in the world and their stance to religion.
The influence of science on lower-class adults was probably not very profound. Historically when it comes to changing ideas, especially when it comes to arts and sciences, less wealthy people are more likely to not partake in the belief or follow in the footsteps of religious institutions. These institutions have power over these people because they preach that the way of God is the only way to living a good life. When these powerful people rebuke the new findings, and call them ungodly, many people in the community will read into it no further and adapt the popular belief. In this time this is especially problematic because not all people were literate at this point. The poor of the times did not have the same opportunities for education that more wealthy people had.
However, the ideas of individualism are intriguing. Over time more and more people began to question the influence of the church. New sciences became more accessible to the masses with the invention of mass media. With the invention of the printing press low-class individuals now gained access to the information that the wealthy have had for years.
The Scientific Revolution had many short and long standing effects on the social culture of the world. Firstly, the introduction of mass media changed the way power was balanced between both the church and the community and the leading powers and the people they ruled over. The Scientific Revolution made information and gossip available for everyone in a community. Second, the church had a similar fall from grace. The realization that science overturned everything that the church stands for caused a huge argument between parishioners and church officials. People were less likely to blindly follow. Instead, an age of enlightenment began. With more information, individuals have more of an ability to make their own educated opinions. This caused individualism to become more important than following the rule of a king.
To this day many connections can be linked back to the Scientific Revolution. This period of time changed how the world works on a large scale. One of the first things that occurred is the trading and sharing of reading materials. One of type of publication that was popular in Europe was deemed pornographic by American standards. Many Europeans did not even think of the images or stories contained in these publications as dirty. Instead, they found them beautiful. The trade of media allowed views to spread and subjects quickly became taboo.
These taboos are still seen today throughout social culture. The invention of the printing press created a brand new source for power. Written media was now often taken as true, though the flood of media production also allowed for the spread of ideas that were not true, or even detrimental to the future of equal rights. People in power quickly realized the power of putting their ideas into written form. This allowed the church and state to regain power by publishing works using language that may scare or persuade the reader to believe any idea that the writer desires. The Black Plague may have further tarnished Western ideas of European ways. This dramatic plague decimated a huge portion of Europeans. The fact that European doctors could not figure out how to cure Black Death may have also made Americans feel superior to European countries.
It was very likely that people’s attitudes toward religion would change more and more throughout time. It would make sense that as more scientific research backing up claims that the heavens are actually just and endless system of gasses and atoms would cause even the most religious of church-goers to question their beliefs.
It would be expected that many political changes would come to pass as well. The strengthened individualism caused many people to become frustrated with their government. Some say that without the Scientific Revolution many of the other revolutions that occurred throughout history may also not have happened. This is because the invention of mass media allows people to connect and communicate between long distances about large ideas.
With all of these new ideas laid out for mass consumption for the first time many social and cultural norms were being discussed openly for the first time in history. This includes conversation topics that most people would find taboo. This new discourse allows people to read multiple sources and create their own ideas. This discussion of taboo ideas could allow people to work out why culture holds negative attitudes toward an idea, and how those attitudes came to be.
This exploration of thoughts and ideas is still in play today. Media has become so large and many subgenres exist. This change makes it possible for people to subscribe to schools of thought where they will recieve most of their information and media. In some cases this can be seen as an extension of the people in power. Political powers can have influence in media, paying millions of dollars to make sure that their secrets stay secret.
