Culture and Anarchy: An Essay in Political and Social Criticism

Arnold uses the word “Barbarian(s)” to refer to members of the British aristocracy. Arnold defines traditional aristocratic culture as superficial, arguing that it contains “all the exterior graces and accomplishments” (268) but that its “charming gifts” (269) lack “soul” (269, emphasis Arnold’s). For Arnold, aristocratic values (such as gentility and splendor) and activities (such as hunting and dancing) may not be bad in and of themselves, but he claims that they are limited in their utility, as they do not foster the deep thinking and pursuit of perfection inherent in the “sweetness and light” of true culture.

Arnold defines true culture as that which enables men and women “to draw ever nearer to a sense of what is indeed beautiful, graceful, and becoming” (165), with culture’s ultimate achievement that of “mak[ing] reason and the will of God prevail” (194). Arnold believes that the defining characteristics of culture are “sweetness and light”—the harmonious interplay between beauty (“sweetness”) and intelligence (“light”), which allows humans to develop toward “a full, harmonious perfection” (95) on both an individual and communal level. Throughout Culture and Anarchy, Arnold repeatedly argues that the potential for “sweetness and light” in English culture is consistently undermined by the Victorian era’s obsession with industrialism and materialism.

Arnold refers to the traditional Jewish/Semitic inheritance and enduring theological influence within Western Christian culture under the broad term “Hebraism” throughout Culture and Anarchy. For Arnold, Hebraism is centered upon “plain, capital intimations of the universal order” (323), which it upholds with “earnestness and intensity” (323). Arnold praises Hebraism for its moral strictness and devotion to traditional religious principles but warns against the limited, dogmatic approach to religion and thought Hebraism can foster in those who adhere too closely to it. Arnold believes that English culture has always been strongly influenced by Hebraism but argues that, in his own time, an injection of “Hellenism” is what English culture needs most.

“Hellenism” forms a strong and balancing contrast to “Hebraism” in Arnold’s theory of culture. While Hebraism refers to the Semitic influence in Western cultures (see: “Hebraism” above), Hellenism refers to the influence of the classical Greek and Roman world. Arnold defines Hellenism as a way of thought devoted to “man’s perceiving and knowing side” (340), marked by an open-minded curiosity and “spontaneity of conscience” (323, emphasis Arnold’s). Significantly, Arnold credits Hellenism with containing the “sweetness and light” that is needed to fully develop a person’s human nature and capacity for critical and creative thought (see: “Sweetness and Light” below). While Arnold believes that Hebraism and Hellenism can often serve to balance one another, he argues that it is Hellenism that should take precedence in the culture of his own time.

Arnold uses the term “Philistine(s)” to refer to members of the British middle class, whom he criticizes for their “dismal and illiberal life” (265) marked by excessive materialism, mercantilism, and small-minded religiosity. Arnold argues that the materialistic and decidedly bourgeois tastes of the middle class leave them immune to the merits of pursuing a more cultured existence, leading to greater cultural stagnation in England overall.

Arnold uses the term “Populace” to describe the lowest class in the Victorian social hierarchy: the working class. Arnold calls the Populace “raw and half-developed” (271) due to its long confinement within conditions of “poverty and squalor” (271). While Arnold does acknowledge that cultural figures can and do emerge from the Populace from time to time, he criticizes the working class as a whole for its anarchic tendencies and its supposed obsession with destructive individualism, which Arnold sums up as “an Englishman’s heaven-born privilege of doing as he likes” (272). In Arnold’s view, much of the Populace fails to access true culture due to poverty, ignorance, and a willful urge to have their own way.