ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to explore in detail some of the antecedents of the popular culture issues, particularly those generated by the mass media, which we face today. Since its source materials are the works of writers and philosophers, and the background is one of social and economic change in eighteenth century England, this is a chapter of literary as well as of social history. As social scientists, we have ventured somewhat afield to explore what writers in eighteenth century England had to say about problems engendered when literary works began to be produced as marketable commodities.
