ABSTRACT
The study of literacy in the past is a responsibility of historical sociology and here there is a substantial achievement to record. Only the fully literate, we shall claim, were likely to be actively or potentially engaged in political activity in the traditional social structure. Interesting evidence is beginning to come to light which links educational change of this kind with social mobility downwards. Politics, administration and governance in general were carried on in writing by the fully literate using manuscript and printed materials. The fundamental fact about an elite consisting in descent lines is that it is extremely unlikely to be self-sufficient over time. To the extent that the market was imperfect in this way, and also to the extent that the elite was increasing or decreasing faster than the rest of society, there would have to be movement to and fro across the dividing line.
