Notes Towards the Definition of Culture"The word culture, in recent years, has been widely and erroneously employed in political, educational, and journalistic contexts. In helping to define a word so greatly misused, T. S. Eliot contradicts many of our popular assumptions about culture, reminding us that it is not the possession of a class but of a whole society and yet its preservation may depend on the continuance of a class system, and that a "classless" society may be a society in which culture has ceased to exist. Surveying the contemporary scene, Mr. Eliot points out that our standards of culture are lower than they were fifty years ago, finds evidence of this decay in every department of human activity, and sees no reason why the decay of culture should not proceed much further. He suggests that culture and religion have a common root and that if one decays the other may die too. He reminds us that "the Russians have been the first modern people to practise the political direction of culture consciously, and to attack at every point the culture of any people whom they wish to dominate. The appendix includes his broadcasts to Europe, ending with a plea to preserve the legacy of Greece, Rome, and Israel, and Europe's legacy throughout the last 2,000 years. 'Behind the urbanity, the modesty, the mere good manners of Mr. Eliot's exposition, one cannot mistake the force and significance of what he has to say, or ignore that it constitutes a fundamental attack on most of our assumptions on the subject.'" --THE LONDON SPECTATOR. Provided by publisher. |
Contents
INTRODUCTION | 11 |
THE THREE SENSES OF CULTURE | 19 |
THE CLASS AND THE ELITE | 33 |
Copyright | |
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according activities already appear artist attempt become believe body bring cause chapter Christian Church civilisation common complete concerned conscious consider continue course culture danger desirable direction distinction division dominant effect elements élites England English equally Europe European faith follow function give greater higher human ideal ideas important individual influence interest Italy kind language lead less literature living maintain means merely mind nature necessary observe organisation particular period person play poetry poets point of view political possible present preservation problem question reader reason region relation religion religious representatives reunion sense separate social society speak talk tend term thing thought tion tradition ture unity whole wholly writing