The Dominating Places and Methods of Reading from Antiquity to the Present Day: From Reading as a Public Act to Reading as a Personal Act

AbstractThis paper studies, from a sociological perspective, the historical and social aspects of reading as a (social and personal) practice in relation to the “place” where it is performed. This place is either in the public or private. After the terms reading practices, main reading methods, reading place and reading habits have been defined, the main reading methods are presented–i.e. intensive and extensive reading– and the main reading practices – i.e. out loud, whispering, silent. Then the reading methods and reading practices that were prevalent in each era are presented, along with the places where the act of reading usually took place. These places are as follows: primary public places or places of public reading (i.e. gathering places), public reading places or reading rooms and public libraries, semi-public places in monasteries, private domestic places and personal places. After associating the main reading practices and methods with the social and physical places where reading was performed, we ascertain that, from antiquity to the present day, we have gradually moved from public-centred to self- centred reading habits, particularly in the early 20th century and afterwards. And this, of course, is associated with the general shift of our society from socio-centred to self-centred models