Effective criticism shapes culture rather than merely describing it

Evidence

The strongest criticism today - the kind that offers the greatest hope for the vitality and future of the discipline - is capable of engaging, guiding, directing, and influencing culture, even stimulating new forms of practice and expression. The strongest criticism serves as a dynamic, critical force, rather than as an acto of boosterism. The strongest criticism uses language and rhetoric not merely for descriptive evaluative purposes but as a means of inspiration, provocation, emotional connection, and experimentation. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2688

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Genre criticism becomes a creative enterprise when freed from canonical rigidities — Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious, 3434; Culture’s truth depends on immanent critique of its own untruth. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 966; Critics should not aggrandize their critical activity — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 10009 (+2 more)