"Preface to Culture & Anarchy" and "Literature"

I believe that both Matthew Arnold and Raymond Williams discuss valid points on the relationship between culture and literature. Arnold rants about how because the culture emphasizes capitalism, the literature is lacking sophistication. Arnold calls for a better, more perfect culture. This is a rant that I could find sense in. Today it seems like because our culture is slave to the pleasure seeking id within all of us and because of that our literature serves that purpose, which I believe is the point that Raymond Williams was making in "Literature." Literature cannot be easily defined as a specific genre of prose, instead the concept of what literature is has changed as culture has changed. Compare modern esteemed works with those of the canon. There is a disparity between the two which illustrates how the concept of literature has changed.