What evidence supports the claim that reading benefits individuals and society? In this LecturaLab 2024 presentation, Christoph Bläsi reviews research into reading’s positive effects and considers how these findings can inform more effective reading-promotion policies. The work forms part of Aldus Up, an initiative seeking to harmonise European reading surveys so that reading behaviours can be compared reliably across countries.
Bläsi distinguishes between positive effects and the specific “reading situations” likely to produce them. A reading situation may be defined by what is read, the format used, whether the activity occurs silently or aloud, its purpose, setting, duration and regularity. Reading a printed novel while commuting, studying educational material on a tablet and listening to an audiobook while running may each generate different outcomes.
Research associates reading with access to knowledge and social participation, stronger imagination, empathy, prosocial behaviour, health and well-being, social interaction and aesthetic pleasure. It can also support cultural and creative industries. Some studies indicate that narrative reading can reduce prejudice and stereotyping or encourage concrete prosocial actions. However, Bläsi emphasises the need to distinguish between conclusions supported by empirical research and reasonable assumptions for which comprehensive evidence is still lacking.
This distinction is particularly important when considering the relationship between reading and democracy. Although reading is widely assumed to support critical thinking and a democratic mindset, this connection still requires stronger indicators and empirical investigation. Bläsi concludes that reading initiatives should identify the outcomes they intend to achieve, promote the reading situations most likely to produce them and subsequently measure whether their interventions have succeeded.
