Culture has a dynamic aim
In Arnold's analysis, culture is shown as a dynamic approach to something specific, but since culture is a collaboration between the entire public, the approach is not always fully realized. In physics, there are matter and energy, particles and waves, and by showing that culture has an end it is trying to attain, culture is more like a fluid with energy in waves. The waves occur whenever a person is raised to the level of the zeitgeist, so that culture is a very complex and simultaneous expression of many people's impressions about life.
Cultural types and subdivisions
Within the tree that is any given culture, Arnold says that a person can expect certain meta-structures to exist. These are almost like archetypal distinctions, or perhaps they just are archetypal. He lists Barbarians, Philistines, and the Populace for their archetypal cultural value. Basically, that section of the book explains the various distinctions within a population with respect to their taste. Some people like some art, some people only prefer high art, and some people don't understand true art at all. In the next chapter, he discusses the dichotomy of religious culture and secular culture, and the question of rules and conduct in a culture (because culture is also a vehicle for publicly shared beliefs and expectations).
Theoretical perfection and anarchy
Over the course of the book, the reader sees that original "telos" or end purpose that art seems to approximate (but never can quite attain, in Arnold's theory). We see that the message of true art has something to do with the sovereignty of a person's experience of their own self. When government oppression occurs, it is that feeling of absolute authority in one's own life that makes art lean toward anarchist ideas. Anarchy is the theoretical perfection of true art, because art is inherently a reflection of one's desire to enfranchise their point of view, which is political authority, one might say.
