Social change 1700s

Period of the Enlightment: Men are born equal because they all have reason and they use it to unveil the misteries of the universe through observations, hypotheses and experiments. In 1662 in London the Royal Society was founded and their motto was “nullius in verba” that means that no one has to believe something without having actual proof. The thinking of the mass changes and the Age of Reason starts, writers start to publish periodicals and journaling and this helps to spread knowledge and ideas amongst the people. The first periodical to become popular was the Tattler written by Steele, it was published 3 times a week and its target audience were women and wives because its articles were about how to dress, behave, talk in society and even how to host a party. It was very popular amongst the middle class but it stopped being published in 1711. Another periodical very popular was The Spectator published by Steele and Addison and its target audience was the middle class, men and women. It was published everyday but Sunday and the topics varied between how to use a fan and politics. These periodicals were a way to exchange opinions and it was called Spectator because it had a frame like the one Caucher had. The writers set the story like it was a conservation between people in a coffee house and the main character was called Mr, Spectator. These periodicals led to the invention of the novel. The novel had as readers the middle class and was originally a story full of facts and very practical, the fathers of the novel are Defoe and Richardson