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Culture and Anarchy

by Matthew Arnold, Jane Garnett (Editor)

3.5 of 5 stars 3.50 · rating details · 317 ratings · 30 reviews

Matthew Arnold's famous series of essays, which were first published in book form under the title Culture and Anarchy in 1869, debate important questions about the nature of culture and society. Arnold seeks to find out what culture really is, what good it can do, and if it is really necessary. He contrasts culture, which he calls the study of perfection, with anarchy, the...more

Paperback, 221 pages

Published December 1st 2006 by Oxford University Press, USA (first published 1878)

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Jun 15, 2012 Varad rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

All the writings collected in this volume have as their central theme Arnold's advocacy of an autonomous role for culture in a society being transformed by industrialization and the ascendance of a middle class detached from, and even hostile too, the cultural aspirations and achievements of the aristocracy it is replacing.

Arnold's definition of culture is a complex one, but its basic characteristic is the pursuit of an internal ideal of perfection that owes much to romanticism, Plato, and even...more All the writings collected in this volume have as their central theme Arnold's advocacy of an autonomous role for culture in a society being transformed by industrialization and the ascendance of a middle class detached from, and even hostile too, the cultural aspirations and achievements of the aristocracy it is replacing.

Arnold's definition of culture is a complex one, but its basic characteristic is the pursuit of an internal ideal of perfection that owes much to romanticism, Plato, and even Hegel:

"The whole scope of the essay is to recommend culture as the great help out of our present difficulties; culture being a pursuit of our total perfection by means of getting to know, on all the matters which most concern us, the best which has been thought and said in the world; and through this knowledge, turning a stream of fresh and free thought upon our stock notions and habits, which we now follow staunchly but mechanically, vainly imagining that there is a virtue in following them staunchly which makes up for the mischief of following them mechanically. This, and this alone, is the scope of the following essay. And the culture we recommend is, above all, an inward operation" (190).

Culture and Anarchy is a book which more than merits the appellation "seminal," for so much of the language subsequently used to describe culture and its place in society originated with it: the notion of culture as "sweetness and light," the description of the middle class as "Philistines," and the contrast of "Hebraism" and "Hellenism. "

Arnold's special target are the Philistines, that vast portion of the self-satisfied Victorian bourgeoisie that has been shaped – and warped in Arnold's view – by the narrow-minded Puritan and Nonconformist worldview that has dominated England for the last two centuries. These all congratulate themselves for achievements like free trade and freedom of thought that Arnold dismisses as mere mechanism, empty and formal ideals which have no higher purpose behind them.

The other essays in the book are also well worth reading, as they touch on the political implications of Arnold's view on culture. In "Democracy," Arnold criticizes the traditional English suspicion of state power and action. "The Function of Criticism at the Present Time" is Arnold's exposition of the necessity and role of the critic, which he sees as the constant application of independent thought the conventional wisdom of society. The last essay, "Equality, " is a powerful challenge to his contemporaries to abandon their infatuation with inequality. Far from being a hallmark of the greatness of their society, Arnold warns, the great inequality which marks English society is one of its primary weaknesses, for it harms the individual who suffers it, and thereby compromises the society which suffers it.

If there is one weakness in Arnold's conception of culture, it is his conviction that the highest cultural ideal requires the critic to stand apart from the politics of his day and use his powers to criticize contemporary politicians rather than using them to offer specific proposals and advice. There is merit to his view that the critic’s task should be to urge the powers that be to think anew what they are doing and why they are doing it. Yet the criticism his opponents leveled at Arnold, that he was extolling a kind of quietism, themselves have some justice. He avers that "our main business at the present moment is not so much to work away at certain crude reforms for which we have already the scheme in our own mind, as to create," by means of culture, "a frame of mind out of which the schemes of really fruitful reforms may with time grow" (179). Yet when he does so, he sounds not a little like Jefferson lamenting slavery: it's terrible, but doing something about it would be worse.

When he decries anarchy and disorder, Arnold comes across as deeply conservative. This impression is more than buttressed by his disdain for the Victorian infatuation with "doing as one likes." Yet no one who pronounces the French Revolution "the greatest, the most animating event in history" can be construed as any sort of Burkean (32). Arnold is better styled a contrarian or skeptic, one who challenges the conventional wisdom and reigning orthodoxies of his day. In an age in which we have become even more fixated upon mechanism and machinery; one where even wider scope has been granted to our Hebraic tendencies at the expense of the Hellenic, so that our society is overrun with those of whom we can say as justly as Arnold did, that "No man, who knows nothing else, knows even his Bible" (145); one in which the state should be "the expression, as we say, of our best self," but becomes more and more the dominion of what is "manifold, and vulgar, and unstable, and contentious, and ever-varying" (181). In such an age, for all his shortcomings, a Matthew Arnold is not only welcome, but necessary.

Published: Friday, 15 June 2012
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Apr 12, 2009 Adrian Colesberry rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Arnold's idea of culture could not be less in vogue these days. As it is always salutary to read the out-of-vogue, I strongly recommend this book to everyone. Today, culture is used to mean what used to be called society or even traditional society. This entire book is Arnold's bid for culture to mean the collection of all that is best and perfect in the world and the agreed-upon commitment to develop that perfection even further, an idea that today we can only weakly express with the word civil...more Arnold's idea of culture could not be less in vogue these days. As it is always salutary to read the out-of-vogue, I strongly recommend this book to everyone. Today, culture is used to mean what used to be called society or even traditional society. This entire book is Arnold's bid for culture to mean the collection of all that is best and perfect in the world and the agreed-upon commitment to develop that perfection even further, an idea that today we can only weakly express with the word civilization.
The important ethic of showing tolerance towards individual human beings within a society has been democratized to the cover a variety of areas where tolerance starts clashing with what you'd hope would be higher values. One place where Western values have clashed with tolerance has been female circumcision. Tolerance would dictate that medically safe genital mutilation should be allowed in another culture (used in the non-Arnoldian sense). In this case, a Sudenese family in a hospital in New York City should have the option of asking a doctor to remove their newborn's clitoris just like they could have asked the same doctor to remove their newborn's foreskin.
Feminists cry foul though, seeing the practice as barbaric and misogynist. Many years of intervention have been specifically non-tolerant of the societies that practice it.
In a subplot, the worldwide anti-HIV effort has introduced male circumcision in parts of Africa where it had never been practiced before (in an effort to control the virus), producing a three-ring circus where one group of Westerners is going over to Africa telling people not to cut the genitals of women, another group of Westerners is going over to Africa telling people to start cutting the genitals of men and the Westerners who stay home are earnestly congratulating themselves on being so tolerant to their fellow human beings and on equally valuing all the wonderful rainbow of cultures that make up the world.
At such points, a judgment must be made and we should probably pay more attention to Arnold's idea of a higher goal for culture, his notion of culture as a collection of best practices, one of those best practices being tolerance of course, but that's not the only value in there. (less)

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Dec 27, 2012 Nadiime Melleh rated it 4 of 5 stars

“Culture which is the study of perfection, leads us… to conceive of true human perfection as a harmonious perfection, developing all sides of our humanity; and a general perfection, developing all parts of our society”

Matthew Arnold-Culture and Anarchy

Culture, then, is both study and pursuit. It is not merely the development of “literary culture”, but of “all sides of our humanity”. Nor is it an activity concerning individuals alone, or some part or section of society; it is, and must be, esse...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Fred R rated it 4 of 5 stars

Many of the specific categories and oppositions he sets up don't seem to hold water, but I wholeheartedly endorse the general thrust of the argument. Of every human product it can be asked: "does this build up civilization, or tear it down?"

To give you a sense of his thought processes:

"So all our fellow-men, in the East of London and elsewhere, we must take along with us in the progress towards perfection, if we ourselves really, as we profess, want to be perfect; and we must not let the worshi...more

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Mar 12, 2010 Yngvild rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

When it comes to pure malicious wit, nobody beats Matthew Arnold, not even Jonathan Swift. The six short essays in Culture and Anarchy would have long passed out of print if they were not such fun. The first three essays take aim at all segments of society: the working, middle and aristocratic classes; leftwing, centrist and rightwing politicians; England, Europe and America; Nonconformists and conformists.

Evidently, even today, some people are sulky about Arnold’s poison-dipped sword, but he g...more When it comes to pure malicious wit, nobody beats Matthew Arnold, not even Jonathan Swift. The six short essays in Culture and Anarchy would have long passed out of print if they were not such fun. The first three essays take aim at all segments of society: the working, middle and aristocratic classes; leftwing, centrist and rightwing politicians; England, Europe and America; Nonconformists and conformists.

Evidently, even today, some people are sulky about Arnold’s poison-dipped sword, but he gores all oxen. Eton really does combine teaching with running a boarding house; groups that withdraw from mainstream society do tend to both become extremist and to push the mainstream towards extremist positions they did not formally hold.

Where Arnold becomes controversial is in his insistence that the balance among people of his day was too far towards acting over thinking. He explicitly complained that legislators in England threw petty rules at every situation in lieu of thinking through the long-term effects of such legislation. His primary example is food subsidies, which he claims rarely benefit the intended recipients. He insists that his preferred emphasis on thinking over acting, by which he obviously means more a genial composure and an intelligent, informed approach, is not “effeminate”, but suitable for a manly man.

So far, we can follow him without argument, but Arnold offers no guidelines as to where the proper balance between thinking and doing are, and he assumes in one essay that political actors are well meaning but ignorant, while pointing out in another that cynical politicians frequently pull the wool over the eyes of an ill-informed populace. Arnold wanted to educate the population, rather than provide direct subsidies, in the belief that this would enable them to take informed control their own lives and provide a better long-term outcome.

I quote a sentence from Culture and Anarchy with some trepidation. Arnold makes his case on each issue by representing each point of view in the best light, and then comparing and reconciling them. That makes it easy to misrepresent his position by selectively quoting only one of the arguments he presents. The pity is that, having shown a good deal of compassion for the underprivileged, he throws it all away in his conclusion.

But for us,--who believe in right reason, in the duty and possibility of extricating and elevating our best self, in the progress of humanity towards perfection,--for us the framework of society, that theatre on which this august drama has to unroll itself, is sacred; and whoever administers it, and however we may seek to remove them from the tenure of administration, yet, while they administer, we steadily and with undivided heart support them in repressing anarchy and disorder; because without order there can be no society, and without society there can be no human perfection. – Culture and Anarchy, Matthew Arnold (1867-1869)

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Feb 03, 2013 Benjamin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cultural-theory

This is 19th Century wit at its absolute best, and a wonderful work of cultural and political criticism (if not one that might find much more favor now than at the time it was written). Arnold's conclusions are frequently not those that I would advocate, and his analysis is not that of a thoroughly principled philosopher (as he freely admits), but there's a great deal of brilliance here, and one would be foolish to discount the entire work simply because it might not always agree with one's own...more

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May 29, 2012 Marina added it

Shelves: read-2012, non-fiction, philosophy, religion, politics

I don't know how to rate this. There is good writing and very intelligent ideas (regarding culture), but they are overshadowed by the alarming conservatism of it all (the middle class with their tea rooms, disgusting!) and silly concepts (light, sweetness?). Also, too much love for the Establishment and Academies. It just amazes me that someone who is apparently so intelligent can say things like everybody is either Barbarians, Philistines or Populace except for men of culture, who are above cla...more

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May 12, 2009 Miriam rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: victorian, non-fiction, ideas

Reason -- "Sweetness and Light" -- Culture -- Perfection -- for Arnold these terms are nearly synonymous, and all underlie the same central claim: the cause of disorder is both identifiable and curable. Arnold's goal here is not to propose a specific program of reform but, as he says in Democracy, to "invite impartial reflections." While Arnold does not precisely live up to his own asserted impartiality, his essay does seem constructed to persuade rather than to argue. This results from a combin...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Ed Wagemann marked it as to-read

Why Everything You Think You Know About Punk Is Completely Wrong:
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Aug 06, 2012 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: culture

Often-sluggish prose and repetitive arguments, but rich in irony and with occasional flashes of genius. A plea for greater hellenism in an era where hebraistic literalism was shaken by recent inquiry. A subtle critique of Victorian dogmas that does not merely substitute our own dogmas for them.

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Jul 13, 2012 Rachel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Very useful, especially to put into conversation with Arnold's theory of aesthetics - the latter portion is a little less compelling and pertinent, particularly if you're reading this for your PhD orals or something of that nature. "Sweetness and Light," "Doing As One Likes," and the "Conclusion" are, in my estimation, the most important sections of the text.

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Nov 19, 2012 Alex rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm torn here. On one hand, I think the basic idea of culture as the process of self-perfection is grand, and I think Arnold's idea and direction are admirable; on the other, however, it seems that his formulation falls short of outlining its practicality as a total worldview. Furthermore, he comes to a couple rather unpalatable sub-conclusions.

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Oct 12, 2009 Abailart rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: on-hold-to-return-to

Reading again, after many years in the wilderness of cultural studies bitterness, that home for frustrated and hateful spoilt brats all over the rich world. Undergraduates are taught to sneer at this book (of course, on the basis of a two or three page extract), in the beginning of their indoctrination into despising of the literary. There is, it is true, much to object to, but the light irony of its writing is delight and powerful of itslf: the issues it deals with frighteningly familiar themes...more

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Jan 30, 2013 Erica rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 19th-century-british, candidacy-exams, scholarly

"The sterner self of the Populace likes bawling, hustling, and smashing; the lighter self, beer" (72).

Arnold writes against the English tendency to value freedom of action over considered thought about what is right and desirable for society, anarchy vs. culture (sweetness and light). Breaks English into classes: Aristocrat-Barbarians, Middle class-Philistines, Working class-Populace.

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Feb 11, 2013 miss jillian rated it 2 of 5 stars

An important work of social and political criticism, to be sure, but not one I'll ever feel compelled to return to.

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Apr 30, 2013 Nicole Lee rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: essays

to be honest, I'm not clear why this is supposed to be such a seminal high Victorian text. It seems to be largely taken up with prolonged discussions of obscure religious and political debates that no one gives a hoot about nowadays. But maybe the broader principles it establishes, the opposition of culture and anarchy, the establishment of the classes of Philistines, Barbarians and Populace etc are now so much part of the foundation of our culture that I can't see how seminal a text this is? An...more

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Oct 20, 2012 Demetra rated it 2 of 5 stars

I only read this as an example of conservative criticism towards mass culture.

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Mar 20, 2013 Harrison Gearns rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's one of those classics you're happy you beat your head through, but I can't ever really see myself appreciating Arnold for what he said. A lot of this seems arbitrary. Insofar as, if you do what Arnold says, you'll do well as a society. Bullocks.

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Oct 16, 2007 Elsie rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Arnold, you ivory-towerist. (He does create a space for the intellectual, which is good. But we should ALL be the intellectual. The space should be everywhere. We should all be the artist :)-in artistic (non-artsy) and diverse ways.)

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Jun 30, 2012 Mel Vincent rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: essay

The book talks about the complexities of culture, society and its implications. Well written but at times a bit dragging and the author derives experiences from British socio-political and comtemporary sources.

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Jan 18, 2011 Jude Brigley rated it 4 of 5 stars

I love all this thinking about culture and education. It may be a little old-fashioned but still raises issues worth thinking about. Good old Arnold: solid as a rock and more liberal than a liberal.

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May 29, 2007 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: victorian

Has its great moments, but full of empty phrases like "sweetness and light," "let truth and the will of God prevail," and, our favorite, "force 'til right is ready"!

Stick to Dover Beach.

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Jul 02, 2011 Ke Huang rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It surprised me how many religious references this book made. I like how it gave me an idea of the intellectual debates and environment from the time.

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Apr 11, 2008 Jason Williams rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cultural-studies, romanticism-and-transcendentalism

A late Romantic gasping for air in the onslaught of the West's new religion: liberalism and *free market* capitalism.

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Aug 22, 2009 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: critcism

It takes awhile to understand, but it really enlightened me to the depths of literary criticism.

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Jan 28, 2008 megan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: cult-crit

are you a barbarian, a philistine, or just part of the populace? read this book and find out.

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May 02, 2007 Steve rated it 3 of 5 stars

High culture saving the world through its dissemination of "sweetness and light"

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Apr 23, 2010 Peter rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 19th-century, conservatism, criticism, english-writers, 1848-1875, philosophy, political-theory, liberalism, classical-liberalism, 1860s, bullshit, bougie-bullshit

See? I can be fair to books I disagree with and think are bullshit!

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Jun 27, 2008 Greg rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Blow it out your ass, Arnold. What, am I too Hebraistic for you?

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Feb 20, 2008 Megan marked it as to-read

Shelves: want-to-own, non-fiction

Mentioned several times in Status Anxiety.

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About Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold was an English poet, sage writer and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to Tom Arnold, literary professor, and William Delafield Arnold, novelist and colonial administrator.

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The Function of Criticism at the Present Time

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Quotes from Culture and Anarchy

“For what can give a finer example of that frankness and manly self- confidence which our great public schools, and none of them so much as Eton, are supposed to inspire, of that buoyant ease in holding up one's head, speaking out what is in one's mind, and flinging off all sheepishness and awkwardness, than to see an Eton assistant-master offering in fact himself as evidence that to combine boarding-house- keeping with teaching is a good thing, and his brother as evidence that to train and race little boys for competitive examinations is a good thing?” — 2 people liked it

“The sterner self of the Populace likes bawling, hustling, and smashing; the lighter self, beer.” — 1 person liked it

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