ABC: Alphabetization of the Popular Mind

Ivan Illich & Barry Sanders

Language: English

Publisher: Vintage

Published: May 14, 1989

Description:

An intense examination of the effects of technology on literacy and language. The authors argue that there is a phenomenon transforming modern culture--language is becoming part of a technology of "information systems" with an emphasis on control, rather than human exchange. As a result, all language is becoming debased.

From the Publisher

"What Illich and Sanders have done...is to trace the advent and spread of the written word...and analyze the effects the switch from an oral to a written tradition has had on both the inner life of the individual and the collective life of the society."--JoAnne Gutin, The Voice (Berkeley, California)

From the Inside Flap

xamination of the effects of technology on literacy and language. The authors argue that there is a phenomenon transforming modern culture--language is becoming part of a technology of "information systems" with an emphasis on control, rather than human exchange. As a result, all language is becoming debased.