Taken-for-granted cultural narratives exert the most power
Evidence
Cultural frameworks are the scaffolding on which human interaction and societies form. They consist of the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, how we came to be, and where we are going. Christian nationalism is a deep story. Cultural frameworks and deep stories contain the symbols, narratives, and traditions that unite us and dramatize the values we hold dear. Oftentimes we don’t even notice them. They just are. And to the extent that deep stories are taken for granted, they are most powerful. — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 143
Categorization
- DEFINE: Defines ‘deep story’ / cultural frameworks as scaffolding for society whose power grows as they go unnoticed.
- XREF: connects to: Culture operates as a weapon of power in modern society — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2697; Deep stories provide culturally rooted lenses for interpreting social worlds. — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 228; Cultural power operates through a constantly shifting boundary of what counts as tradition — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 1016 (+7 more)
Broader Connections
- Deep stories provide culturally rooted lenses for interpreting social worlds.
#expands(0.85) — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 228 - Dominant historical narratives persist because wealth and learning serve the powerful.
#corroborates(0.84) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 54 - National culture is a discourse constructing identities through stories and images
#corroborates(0.83) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 123 - Culture operates as a weapon of power in modern society
#expands(0.82) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2697 - Fabled kinship narratives guaranteed the nation’s homogeneity and continuous power
#exemplifies(0.80) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 142 - History is always narrated through present relations of power
#corroborates(0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2691 - Cultures preserve idealized versions of their own rulers and pasts.
#exemplifies(0.79) — , A Year of World Stories, 2165 - Cultural power operates through a constantly shifting boundary of what counts as tradition
#qualifies(0.78) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 1016 - Perceptions of the Other are always filtered through one’s own cultural narrative forms.
#expands(0.76) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 351 - Cultural forms can both cement existing relations and reveal they are fabricated.
#complicates(0.75) — Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late…, 334