Mode 2: Cultural Context
Cultural Context investigates the social world of the text: the customs, values, laws, and power dynamics that dictate human behaviour. Rather than offering historical background notes, analyse how characters navigate, accept, or rebel against the prevailing social expectations of their environment.
How Questions Are Usually Phrased
Prompts typically focus on behaviour considered unacceptable within the world of the text, aspects of the world that foster social division or unity, or how cultural factors dictate the extent to which a character can achieve happiness or personal success.
Angles for Analysis
- Social Hierarchies and Economic Power: Who controls wealth and status, and who is marginalised? How do class barriers or economic dependence restrict personal freedom?
- Gender Expectations and Family Structures: What constitutes acceptable conduct for men and women? What financial, emotional, or social penalties are inflicted on those who defy these rigid conventions?
- Institutions, Religion, and Community Surveillance: How do churches, courts, or community pressures enforce compliance? Does the community provide solidarity, or does it enforce an oppressive culture of silence and complicity?