Literature and culture are never politically innocent but inseparable from society

Evidence

Too often literature and culture are presumed to be politically, even historically innocent; it has regularly seemed otherwise to me, and certainly my study of Orientalism has convinced me (and I hope will convince my literary colleagues) that society and literary culture can only be understood and studied together. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 101

Categorization

• XREF: This is a foundational claim for the entire critical-theory toolkit — culture as political, not innocent — that the Islamophobia readings will presuppose. — connects to: Every text inevitably conveys meanings its author neither intended nor controlled. — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An…, 342; Literary content is already meaningful social life, not formless matter — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 768; Contemporary literary radicalism never examines its own class determination and self-censorship — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, 41 (+1 more)
• DEFINE: Establishes the method’s core premise: cultural analysis as inseparable from political analysis.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 101