ABSTRACT
Since Matthew Arnold published Culture and Anarchy the idea that there existed two groups of people in society – the cultured saviours of society and its barbarian enemies – has been endlessly reproduced. Even today the notion persists that these two groups exist and are locked into mortal combat. In more recent times, in terms of the history of Communication Studies, commentators such as Raymond Williams and his successors (cultural theorists, subcultural theorists, and popular cultural theorists) have taken up the cause of popular culture in an attempt to make whole what was once broken between the two cultures. The debate persists – if only as a context in which members of certain social classes assert or demonstrate their cultural capital by virtue of understanding the terms of engagement with the debate.
