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The Idea of Culture
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This paper provides a brief review of chapters from Terry Eagleton's The Idea of ...... More...
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2 sources, 7 Citations, MLA Format
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Paper Abstract:
This paper provides a brief review of chapters from Terry Eagleton's The Idea of Culture and Zymunt Bauman's Culture As Praxis.

Paper Introduction:
Reviews In Terry Eagleton\'s The Idea of Culture the author provides adiscussion of the idea of culture an idea he lists among one of the twoor three most complex words in the English language In a similar vein ofthought in Culture as Praxis Zygmunt Bauman asserts that Theunyielding ambiguity of the concept of culture is notorious Eagletonshows how culture is a concept that derives from nature However culturealters nature As Eagleton Nature produces culture which changesnature He also makes it clear that

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However, culturealters nature. Eagleton(8) compares this relationship to the state being "the presence of theuniversal within the particularist realm of civil society." In this sense,individuals are governed by the state in a particular culture, but theseindividuals are also capable of altering the nature of the state. As Eagleton (3), "Nature produces culture which changesnature." He also makes it clear that concepts of culture are most alwaysconnected to discussions of power, authority and government. The Idea of Culture. In Eagleton's view there is an intimate connection between culture,human subjectivity and government. In his discussion of the hierarchical conceptof culture, Bauman maintains that the elite are just as constrained by thepeasantry in their ability to maintain power. As Eagleton (5 ) writes, "Since trueauthority involves the internalizing of the law, it is on humansubjectivity itself, in all its apparent freedom and privacy, that powerseeks to impress itself." In this form, culture becomes a form ofuniversal subjectivity that operates internally in individuals. Eagleton (5 ) explains that those in authority cannot governsuccessfully if they do not have some level of understanding of "men andwomen in their secret desires and aversions, not just in their votinghabits or social aspirations." One might say that Barack Obama and theDemocratic Party had a better grasp on this in American culture than didJohn McCain and the Republican Party in the recent Presidential election.In this sense, the governed altered the state and governance by electingthe candidate to office that most reflected their cultural concerns andissues. As Bauman (13) writes of theelite mentality: "Apart from the possibility of shifts of power within thegroup, life seems greatly dominated by forces beyond their control, just aslife does to the peasantry." It is in this life process or dynamic thatculture arises in Bauman's view, the interchange of power and constraints.For Eagleton culture is shaped by the ability of leaders to be able toimagine the governed from inside if they intend to regulate the inside.Both authors do a valid job of drawing out some of the dynamics and powerrelations that maintain culture as well as alter it.Works CitedBauman, Zygmunt. Culture as Praxis. Boston, MA: Routledge, 1973.Eagleton, Terry. 8424 Reviews In Terry Eagleton's (1) The Idea of Culture, the author provides adiscussion of the idea of "culture," an idea he lists among "one of the twoor three most complex words in the English language." In a similar vein ofthought, in Culture as Praxis Zygmunt Bauman (1) asserts that "Theunyielding ambiguity of the concept of culture is notorious." Eagletonshows how culture is a concept that derives from nature. U.K.: Blackwell Publishing, 2 3. Bauman also describes how those with power in a culture are oftenconstrained by individuals.

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