Culture and Anarchy : A Classic Essay on Culture, Education, and Society
Overview
Culture and Anarchy is Matthew Arnold's classic argument about education, society, class, religion, politics, and the civilizing force of culture. Written in response to the social and political tensions of Victorian Britain, Arnold sets "culture" against what he saw as disorder, narrowness, and faction. By culture, he did not mean mere refinement or decorative learning, but the pursuit of "sweetness and light" the disciplined search for human perfection through knowledge, criticism, beauty, and right reason.
First published in book form in 1869, Culture and Anarchy became one of the defining works of Victorian cultural criticism. Arnold attacks complacent aristocrats, self-satisfied middle-class moralism, and working-class unrest with equal force, using his famous categories of "Barbarians," "Philistines," and "Populace" to describe the limits of each social group. His central question remains powerful: what kind of education, criticism, and moral imagination can keep a society from sinking into self-interest, noise, and disorder?
Readers interested in Victorian literature, cultural criticism, education, political thought, social criticism, and the history of the humanities will find Culture and Anarchy essential. It is a demanding, influential, and often provocative book: a defense of culture not as luxury, but as a public necessity.
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Details
- ISBN-13: 9781604597011
- ISBN-10: 1604597011
- Publisher: SMK Books
- Publish Date: May 2009
- Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.38 inches
- Shipping Weight: 0.55 pounds
- Page Count: 164
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