commentary on the central issues of culture’

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Central Issues of Culture: A Commentary
Abstract
Culture’s elusive nature has drawn the interest of many theorists and analysts. However, deeper analysis of the trends across time reveal distinct characteristics which recur throughout different spans of time – suggesting that culture exists to achieve an inherent purpose common to all men. One such recurrence is the concept of achieving sweetness and light, whereby men attempt to create an environment devoid of hatred. It is through such high ideals that the fabric of any society is constructed and maintained. This essay analyzes different arguments presented in the first eight chapters of the publication Cultural Theory: An Anthology. Several aspects of these arguments fit into each other such as that culture and ideological expression are essential for the integrity of societal functioning – although economic capacity enables higher social classes to be more effective arbiters of the trends in high culture. Their influence, though disdained, has a tremendous effect on popular culture and may be used as an indirect system of oppression. Nonetheless, economic advantage is only useful to a limited extent.

The book Cultural Theory: An Anthology comprises forty-two chapters. It features different authors from dispersed time periods and includes peculiar rare publications – publications that have shaped the course of contemporary cultural theory. The book employs a unique approach to cultural studies; the authors assert that the book departs from similar publications within the field by focusing on the constructs which affect its direction.

An overview of each chapter reveals how the book is adapted to assist learners within the area by providing a brief description of the chapter and its author (Szeman and Kaposy 11). This essay is a commentary on the critical issues pertaining culture, ideology, and the concept of time and space as described in the first eight chapters of the book.
Including Sweetness and Light as the first chapter of the book may have been aimed at establishing the foundation of culture and different ideologies. The author of this chapter, Matthew Arnold, describes that culture disdains hatred. It has a passion for the prevalence of sweetness and light. He asserts that culture aims to achieve these dual concepts for they are the foundation of good experiences among humanity. Every man faces internal conflict and external pressures, which limits their happiness, which directly results in unkindness among the populace. However, every man can experience complete sweetness and light, if the rest of the population appreciates the necessity of these constructs. People attempt to propagate these constructs by feeding the community with intellectual food which changes their pattern of thinking to enhance sweetness and light or indoctrinating them with particular sets of ideas which comprise a specific creed. Culture, on the other hand, attempts to achieve the same by encouraging men to use ideas freely, unbound to concrete ways of thinking (Szeman and Kaposy 16).
The argument described above emphasizes that the social aspect of culture is founded on love human beings inherently have for each other. As such, the chapter elevates culture above different kinds of narrow thinking which predominate the human mind. What can be drawn from this argument is that cultured man desires and aims for perfection. However, can such perfection be easily achieved considering the tumultuous nature of society? The Affirmative Character of Culture explicates this notion by using Aristotle’s teaching to explicate the hierarchy of knowledge, ranging from necessary expertise to philosophical knowledge at the summit. The former is essential for the sustenance of order and efficiency in the society. Philosophical knowledge delves into an abstract realm of pleasure, sensuality, and beauty. The affirmative character of culture is such that throughout civilization, philosophical knowledge is elevated above society. Therefore, the order in society is achieved no through material organization rather than through elevation of the human soul (Szeman and Kaposy 33). Focusing on the abstract relieves actual segregation in society. Throughout the evolution of culture, order and cohesion among men was maintained by commitment to a higher cause.
This notion – that culture represents high ideals and can thus be used to maintain domination over people – is a recurring theme throughout these chapters. Culture breeds civilization, and enables men to think freely in a realm where their ideas can only remain abstract. It provides a relief to the experience of usual struggles in life. The Culture Industry exemplifies this economic ideology and nature of culture. Cultural institutions in society are no longer independent; rather rely on other dominant institutions for their survival. For instance, the film industry relies heavily on banks. Business ideologies have encroached various facets of culture (Szeman and Kaposy 45). Culture is meant to be an expression of truth, which can barely be achieved with interference from pecuniary policies. However, the culture industry has managed to maintain its power through the alignment of style and form. This strategy achieves since it is inherently entertaining as is evident in the film industry: many films rely on their inclusion of technological themes for commercial success. Audiences scorn films which deviate from the norm as being weird effectively ostracizing real art, which is the epitome of cultural and ideological realization. In fact, ‘modern art’ is merely a reproduction of repeated ideological material which has little inspiration (Szeman and Kaposy 65).
Financial capability has an immense impact on culture. Since it is guides people’s way of thinking, influencing culture is useful in the implementation of a particular strategy. This concept is applicable in the multiple contexts in life. One has to motivate a higher behavioral change in the people to motivate their dedication to an objective. Economic capital is cited as a major means of influencing cultural capital. Through economic capital, one can purchase objectified forms of capital such as books, films, paintings, and such items. Such items can be transferred easily from one person to another. Every individual has cultural capital, which is a non-economic force that exists primarily due to nurturing it. The fundamental form of social capital is the embodied individual, which is increased by dedicating time for self-improvement (Szeman and Kaposy 97). Cultural capital is the product of dedication of one’s parents to its development as well as personal investment. When instituted in a person, it becomes a habit and facilitating its reproduction in other persons with whom they interact.
Conspicuous consumption in the society demonstrates the power of economic capacity over culture. To enhance a culture of consumerism among the people, wealthy individuals began to purchase goods primarily to display their wealth. Previously, the market was governed by the laws of supply and demand. The increase in productivity led to the production of goods whose demand ironically increased with their cost (Szeman and Kaposy 25). The institution of this culture, which later spread to the lower social classes, has increased wastage of time and money while promoting many economic ventures.
The aforementioned assertions rest on the foundation of culture and ideology being high abstract constructs. However, Culture is Ordinary introduces a different perspective of the argument. The author describes his personal experience to justify their comprehension of culture. Some of the refuted conceptions include that culture comprises only ‘high’ culture – such as art, literature, and music (Szeman and Kaposy 55). He explains that culture is also found among the ‘common people.’ Being a phenomenon among the common people, there are some aspects of culture which cannot be easily influenced. Even though the powerful may restrict access to power and education, people create institutions to overcome these barriers. Culture of the common people enables them to improve their lives. Popular culture is in itself a multifaceted construct. One of its definitions is that it is one which belongs to the people. Some cultural theorists disagree this perspective since it distinguishes the ‘common people’ from the ‘high people’ (Szeman and Kaposy 84). Popular culture should be defined by its nature – that it is dynamic and has a never-ending tension.
Works Cited
Szeman, Imre, and Kaposy, Timothy. Cultural Theory: An Anthology. John Wiley & Sons, 2011.