# Culture and Anarchy explained — Culture and Anarchy

> Chapter companion for Culture and Anarchy by Matthew Arnold.

## What happens

The opening chapter introduces the central conflict between culture, which seeks human perfection through the pursuit of 'sweetness and light,' and anarchy, which arises from the unchecked pursuit of individual liberty or 'doing as one likes.' Arnold critiques the English social classes—Barbarians, Philistines, and Populace—for their respective failures to embody true culture, and argues for the authority of the State as the representative of the collective best self.

## Themes in this chapter

### Culture vs. Anarchy

The core dichotomy of the chapter: culture as the pursuit of perfection and harmony, versus anarchy as the disorder resulting from unchecked individualism.

### Social Class and the 'Three Classes'

Arnold introduces his famous classification of English society into Barbarians (aristocracy), Philistines (middle class), and Populace (working class), each failing to embody true culture.

## Character check-ins

### Narrator

The authorial voice presenting the essay's thesis on culture versus anarchy.

### Barbarians

The aristocratic class, characterized by a love of external graces but a lack of intellectual depth.

### Philistine

The middle class, described as the stronghold of Puritanism and narrow-mindedness.

### Mr. Bright

Mentioned as a representative of the Philistine spirit in politics.

### Mr. Frederic Harrison

Cited as a critic of culture, representing the Positivist or anarchic tendency.

## Key lines

> 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.

The essay's purpose is to advocate for culture as the solution to contemporary problems, defining culture as the quest for complete human perfection through knowledge of the finest ideas and expressions throughout history.

_Arnold's central thesis: culture as a remedy for social and spiritual malaise._

> Doing as one likes is the great English virtue; but it is also the great English vice.

The English tendency to prioritize individual freedom is both a strength and a dangerous flaw, leading to anarchy.

_Arnold's critique of liberalism and the principle of 'doing as one likes.'_

> The Barbarians, the Philistines, and the Populace.

Arnold classifies English society into three main classes: the aristocracy (Barbarians), the middle class (Philistines), and the working class (Populace).

_The famous tripartite division of English social classes._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/culture_and_anarchy_se/chapters/culture-and-anarchy
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/culture_and_anarchy_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/culture_and_anarchy_se/chapters