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8/12/2019 Socia Logical

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How Does Society Influence Literature?

How Does Literature Influence Society?

Catherine Wishart

Adjunct Instructor


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Sociological critics argue that literary worksshould not be isolated from the social contextsin which they are embedded (DiYanni 1571).

Sociological critics emphasize the ways power

relations are played out by varying socialforces and institutions (DiYanni 1571).

Sociological critics attempt to analyze literaturefrom one of these two lenses:

Conditions of production, such as schools,magazines, publishers, and fashions. The applicability of a given workfiction

especiallyin studying the dynamics of a givensociety.


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Sociological critics examine expressions of specificareas in literary works, including:

Economic conditions during which a piece was

written Political arena and popular political beliefs

Cultural issues


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Feminist Theory: looks closely at fiction from aspecific lens. What are the women doing in thestory? How do they interact with men? What isthe womans role in society?

Marxist Theory: developed in the 1930s andoften advocates Marxism. Marxist Theory looksclosely at fiction from a different lens. In whatsocial class does each character belong? Howdoes the assigned social class impact thecharacter? How do characters of different socialclasses interact?


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During WW II, women were expected to work infactories, maintain the home front, and manage thehousehold.

When the war ended, women were then expected toresume previous subservient roles.

The womens movement slowly grew as a result offrustration.

Feminist Criticism was one way that women were ableto comment on their social status.

According to Elaine Showalter, there are two purposesfor feminist criticism: Feminist Critique: to analyze works by male authors especially

in how they depict women characters Gynocriticism: to study women authors writing


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Feminist critics have brought certain forgottenor undervalued female authors to the forefrontof study and inclusion in expected readings.

Some of these authors include: Kate Chopin, author of The Story of an Hour.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, author of The YellowWallpaper.

Zora Neale Hurston, author of Spunk.


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Feminist theory was originally represented bywhite, educated, heterosexual Anglo-American women (Guerin et al 222).

However, practitioners of feminist theory hasgrown beyond this limiting social strata.

Feminist theory now encompasses biological,linguistic, psychoanalytic, Marxist, cultural

studies, ethnic and race studies, postcolonialtheory, lesbian and gay studies, and genderstudies (Guerin et al 222).


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The original goals of Feminist Theory were toanalyze how male authors portray women, andto analyze how female authors write by

recovering womens texts. A new far-reaching goal has emerged: beyond

recovering womens texts, feminist theoryendeavors to recover female cultures.

Historians typically record male accomplishments

Feminist theory insists that female accomplishmentsare important to note and record as well


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Female authors, prior to the 20thcentury, were rare. Therefore, women often fell intoline and portrayed women characters as male authors did.

The feminine phase of imitating male authors influenced women authors from 1840 to 1880.

Women authors became frustrated with these flat, static portrayals of women.

The feminist phase evolved, during which female authors began to advocate for their rights,such as voting, autonomy, etc. This phase lasted from 1880 1920 (both Chopins and Gilmansstories were written in this time frame). Double-speak became popular during this time period.

Women authors moved on from writing about rights to analyzing other impacts on

literature. Women began to examine male authors writings for misogynistic stereotyping of women.

Women also began to reclaim lost writings by excellent female authors. This period began in the1920s and is still prevalent today.

Women critics have also begun to expand feminist theory to include all women:

Feminist theory now analyzes how all ethnicities of women are depicted in literature and howwomen authors of various ethnicities impact the literary canon.

Feminist theory analyzes the role of sexual preference, i.e., heterosexual, gay and lesbian.

Feminist theory has expanded to carefully examine groups that have been the subject ofoppression.

Feminist theory examines the additional encumbrances placed on female authors of ethnicminorities in becoming published authors.


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1. To what extent does the representation of women (and men) in thework reflect the place and time in which the work was written?

2. How are the relations between men and women, or those betweenmembers of the same sex, presented in the work? What roles domen and women assume and perform and with whatconsequences?

3. Does the author present the work from within a predominantlymale or female sensibility? Why might this have been done, andwith what effects?

4. How do the facts of the authors life relate to the presentation ofmen and women in the work? To their relative degrees of power?

5. How do other works by the author correspond to this one in theirdepiction of the power relationships between men and women?

(Di Yanni 1574-75).


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Marxist Criticism views literature through anarrow lens.

It is based on the social/economic theories of

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxist critics ask specific questions:

How do dominant elites exploit subordinate groups?

How do people become alienated from each other?

How do middle-class values cause society tosuppress the working class?

(DiYanni 1571).


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Marxist critics analyze literature from the past:what has literature been?

Marxist critics analyze literature from thefuture: what might literature become? What

should literature become?


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Reconstruct the past based on historicalevidence to determine how truthfully and

accurately a text represents the social reality atany given time (Cuddon 492-3).

Marxist critics interested in content examinetexts from the definite standpoint of Marxs

philosophical ideas, and from his view ofhistory in which the class struggle isfundamental (Cuddon 492).


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Examine literature for its:

value in promoting social and economicrevolution

Prompting of economic and political changes thatconform with Marxist principles

Encouragement of the overthrow of the dominantcapitalist ideology and the loss of power by those

with money and privilege Ability to redefine/reform the way society

distributes its resources among the classes (DiYanni1571).


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1. What social forces and institutions are represented in thework? How are these forces portrayed? What is theauthors attitude toward them?

2. What political economic elements appear in the work?

How important are they in determining or influencing thelives of the characters?

3. What economic issues appear in the course of the work?How important are economic facts in influencingmotivation and behavior of the characters?

4. To what extent are the lives of the characters influenced ordetermined by social, political, and economic forces? Towhat extent are the characters aware of these forces?


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