Matthew Arnold theorized around the transitional period between feudalism and the modern era in which industrialization was making profound effects on societies. Arnold encouraged a centralized, authoritarian approach to personal liberty and collective freedom. Arnold, rather than believing that states and centralized power have been the consistent roots of oppression since the beginning of agricultural societies and centralized leadership, instead believed that centralized power is an absolute necessity in promoting peacefulness. In this centralized power, Arnold believed that culture(s), and specifically an individually created sense of culture, would help to encourage that peacefulness. He believed a central power to be necessary in enforcing these cultures of peacefulness.
However, in my opinion, it is centralized powers that create wars and force/draft folks to fight them, and it is centralized powers that create and enforce political, economic, and social hierarchies that oppress individuals and entire communities. Arnold feared anarchism. Anarchy is often...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
understood as synonymous with violence and general upheaval. However, anarchy simply means "without rulers." Anarchy does not imply no systems of living, no cultures, and no agreements/rules. Anarchism is a political and social belief that centralized power, whether politically or socially, is inherently oppressive and is a direct, root cause of top-down violence, wealth disparities, and corruption.
For instance, anarchists consider the start of civilizations and stagnant agricultural societies to have led to the strict and gendered division of labor, the formations of militaries, rulers, slavery, prisons, worker exploitation, and class-based societies that have led to massive inequalities in the world today. Anarchism is a political philosophy that seeks to share power equally among living beings in the world and to form our own societies that rely on mutual aid, solidarity, and interdependence, rather than on hierarchies and state-based coercion and control.
During the late 1860s, Matthew Arnold recognized the fazing out of feudalism and the inception of the modern era. He saw the increase in personal freedom as a logical step in modernization but he feared that celebrating freedom for freedom's sake (without considering the ends of freedom) is a thoughtless practice and one that might lead to anarchy.
Our prevalent notion is--and I quoted a number of instances to prove it--that it is a most happy and important thing for a man merely to be able to do as he likes.
Evidently this is so; but evidently, also, as feudalism, which with its ideas, and habits of subordination was for many centuries silently behind the British Constitution, dies out, and we are left with nothing but our system of checks, and our notion of its being the great right and happiness of an Englishman to do as far as possible what he likes, we are in danger of drifting towards anarchy. ("Chapter 2: Doing As One Likes," Culture and Anarchy.)
Arnold suggested, to prevent anarchy while retaining sensible notions of freedom, there ought to be a central authority which proposes a paragon (ideal model). This paragon is culture. Culture is opposed to anarchy in the sense that anarchy is a free-for-all while culture is the deliberate search for the best way to live. So, even though this definition of culture sounds like a central political authority, Arnold intended it to be a goal of each individual. Thus, one should culture one's self, try to attain the best cultural existence. Arnold expands on his idea of culture to include scientific curiosity, morality, and beauty. In other words, we should be guided by culture to strive for artistic, humanistic, and scientific perfection. We are free to do what we want but we should culture ourselves. We can be free but Arnold proposed that we use that freedom, not for its own sake (because it can lead to anarchy), but to individually and collectively strive for perfection.