High Culture

Many people today think of culture in the way that it was thought of in Europe during the 18th and early
19th centuries. This concept of culture reflected inequalities within European societies and their colonies
around the world. This understanding of culture equates culture with civilization and contrasts both with
nature or non-civilization. According to this understanding of culture, some countries are more civilized
than others, and some people are more cultured than others. Theorists like Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)
believed that culture is simply that which is created by "the best that has been thought and said in the
world" (p. 6).[5] Anything that doesn't fit into this category is labeled as chaos or anarchy. From this
perspective, culture is closely tied to cultivation, which is the progressive refinement of human behavior.
In practice, culture referred to elite goods and activities such as haute cuisine, high fashion or haute
couture, museum-caliber art and classical music. The word cultured referred to people who knew about
and took part in these activities. For example, someone who used culture in this sense might argue that
classical music is more refined than music by working-class people, such as jazz or the indigenous music
traditions of aboriginal peoples.