WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LITERATURE AND SOCIETY? - LITERATURE - 2025

The relationship between literature and society is symbiotic in nature. Sometimes, literature works as a mirror where many of the features of a society are reflected, for example costumbrista novels. But also, some publications can serve as role models, as in the case of self-help books.

Thus, in this relationship there is a two-way feedback: speculate and model. Literature is a reflection of society that reveals several of its values ​​and shortcomings. In turn, society has always reacted and has even changed its social patterns thanks to an awakening of consciousness as a result of literature.

Precisely, the most obvious relationship between literature and society is that corrective function. Many authors intentionally reflect the evils of society so that human beings realize their mistakes and make the necessary corrections. Similarly, they can project virtues or good values ​​for people to emulate.

On the other hand, literature constitutes a simulation of human action. Their representations often reflect what people think, say, and do in society.

In literature, stories are designed to portray human life and action. This portrait is made through the words, action and reaction of the different characters.

Theories about the relationship between literature and society

Many authors have explored the issue of the relationship between literature and society. From their reflections, they have proposed several theories to try to explain it. Some of them are detailed below.

Reflection theory

Traditionally, reflection theory has been the central perspective for sociologists studying literature. They have basically established its use as a basis for information about society.

According to this theory, the relationship between literature and society is speculative. That is to say, literature acts as a mirror that reflects the virtues and vices of human societies. According to its defenders, it stores information about the behavior of humans and their social values.

In this way, literary texts are written as a reflection of the economy, family relationships, climate, and landscapes. There are also endless themes that motivate its production. Among them are morals, races, social classes, political events, wars, and religion.

However, today, this reflective theory as an explanation of the relationship between literature and society has its detractors. Thus, a group of sociologists assumes reflection as a metaphor.

They argue that literature is based on the social world, but selectively, magnifying some aspects of reality, and ignoring others.

Despite these considerations, some sociological studies maintain the perspective of a mirror relationship. This is especially used in research related to social studies where, with some restrictions, literary evidence provides information.

Structural reflex theory

The theory of structural reflection is another attempt to explain the relationship between literature and society. In this theory we speak of a more sophisticated type of reflection. In this sense, it is argued that it is the form or structure of literary works rather than their content that incorporates the social.

Among the most prominent proponents of this theory is the Hungarian philosopher Georg Lukács (1885-1971). Indeed, Lukács affirmed that it was not the content of literary works that reflected the author's social world, but the categories of thought contained in these productions.

Very soon, other philosophers joined this current of thought, and made their contributions as well. Among them, the French philosopher Lucien Goldmann (1913-1970) proposed the concept of a homologous relationship between the structure of literary works and the structures of the author's social context.

Goldmann's work, while influential at the time of its publication, has been eclipsing with the emergence of more recent theories.

These developments have cast doubt on the fact that literature incorporates unique meanings that identify social levels. However, this theory still has a following and is still under investigation.

High culture / popular culture theory

This theory, as an expression of the relationship between literature and society, has its origin in the schools of Marxist thought of the 1960s and 1980s.

According to its postulates, there are two types of culture divided socially. On the one hand, there are the ruling classes and, on the other, the dominated (exploited by the ruling class).

The proponents of this philosophy saw culture (including literature) as a mechanism of oppression. They did not see it as a reflection of what society was, but as a view of what it could be.

In his opinion, the ruling classes through a popular (or mass) culture alienated the rest of society for economic reasons

Thus, mass culture was seen as a destructive force, imposed on a passive audience by the machinery of a capitalist culture industry.

The objective was to achieve the apathy of the dominated classes in the face of their own social and economic problems. In this way, their social behavior was shaped.

For their part, the detractors of this philosophy argued that mass culture was the origin of progressive human movements such as feminism, conservationists and human rights, among others. According to them, this was an example of reaction and not of behavior shaping, as the theory preached.

Theory of implicit reflection

Followers of implicit reflective theory are convinced that the relationship between literature and society is one of molding. They consider that literature is exemplary of sociological concepts and theories that are replicated in society. They base their claim on spontaneous events in society as a result of literary writings.

Proponents of this theory cite numerous examples to support its basic principles. One of them is the ecological reaction of society to futuristic literary writings.

In this class of texts, the authors usually present a world impoverished of natural resources. The landscape of these works is characterized by deforestation and the disappearance of species. In this way, these theorists refer to the reaction of communities in defense of their environment as induced model behavior.

References

1. Duhan, R. (2015). The Relationship between Literature and Society. In Language in India, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 192-202.
2. Dubey, A. (2013). Literature and Society. In Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Vol. 9, No. 6, pp. 84-85.
3. Encyclopedia. (s / f). Literature And Society. Taken from encyclopedia.com.
4. Huamán, MA (1999). Literature and Society: The Reverse of the Plot. In Revista de Sociología, Vol. 11, No. 12.
5. Rudaitytė, R. (2012). Literature in Society. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
6. Candido, A. and Becker H. (2014). Antonio Candido: On Literature and Society. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.