Culture talk replaces class and state analysis with essentialized cultural difference

Evidence

Culture talk assumes that every culture has a tangible essence that defines it, and then explains politics as a consequence of that essence. Culture talk after 9/11 … explained the practice of “terrorism” as “Islamic.” “Islamic terrorism” is thus offered as both description and explanation of the events of 9/11. It is no longer the market (capitalism), nor the state (democracy), but culture (modernity) that is said to be the dividing line between those in favour of a peaceful civic existence and those inclined to terror. It is said that our world is divided between those who are modern and those who are premodern. The moderns make culture and are its masters, the premoderns are said to be but conduits. — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 77

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core definition of culture talk as explaining politics by essentialized culture instead of economics and state.
• XREF: The modern/premodern division and ‘conduits’ of culture maps directly onto Changez’s self-portrayal in The Reluctant Fundamentalist as culture’s instrument.