A way out of the dualism of high culture/low culture (On the dialectic of cultural struggle)

This research is an attempt to explain the main tenants of the thesis named “the dialectic of cultural struggle” as a way of overcoming the dualism of high culture/low culture. The domination of this dualism on the field of cultural analysis is a well-known phenomenon and until recently much of the theoretical controversies has been done according to this. Our main argument is that the thesis of “the dialectic of cultural struggle” (formulated by neo-Gramescians) provides a way out of this dilemma. A historical reflection in high/low debate shows that these two are not separate and independent entities but their contents and meanings are intertwined in a negative way. In other words, high and low culture are empty categories that their significance depends on their “absent other”. Describing the contemporary cultural situation is not possible unless we understand this dualism, but to stay within the limits of this dualism has no analytic result. The main idea of the thesis of “the dialectic of cultural struggle” is that the qualities and criteria of what is high and low culture arise from objective contexts of power/ resistance relations.