Social Science (087) — AI-generated practice question

Before print, knowledge spread through oral traditions (stories, ballads, sacred texts recited aloud), hand-copied manuscripts (expensive, scarce, available only to elites), and the Church (which controlled religious knowledge).

Print disrupted all three: books flooded the market at lower cost, replacing manuscripts; printers published ballads and folk tales, blending oral and print culture; and reformers like Martin Luther used print to challenge Church authority, sparking the Protestant Reformation.

This disruption was both liberating and destabilising — it widened access to knowledge but also spread "rebellious and irreligious" ideas, alarming authorities who feared loss of control.

Source: Chapter 5 — A New Reading Public; Religious Debates and the Fear of Print

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• The question has three parts woven into one: oral tradition, manuscripts, Church — address all three briefly.
• The key CBSE expectation here is to use textbook evidence (Luther, cheap books, ballads recited at taverns) rather than general knowledge.
• The "liberating vs. destabilising" part is analytical — examiners want both sides acknowledged in one or two lines, not a one-sided answer.
• Do not over-explain; at 3 marks, tight paragraphs like the above are sufficient.