Why were New Critics criticized for paying too little attention to social context?

New Critics were criticized for neglecting social context because their methodology insisted that a work of art should be treated as an independent unit of meaning. By focusing exclusively on "close reading"—analyzing the text's internal structure, figurative language, and unresolved tensions—they actively opposed the practice of incorporating historical, biographical, or sociological data into literary interpretation.12

Critics of this approach argued that by isolating the text, New Criticism ignored the broader circumstances in which literature is produced. While New Critics viewed the poem as a self-contained aesthetic object, detractors—such as those associated with New Historicism—maintained that texts are historical artifacts that emerge from specific social, intellectual, and economic conditions.3

Furthermore, some scholars argued that the New Critical focus on "intrinsic value" favored conservative perspectives, effectively marginalizing the voices and existential concerns of groups defined by their gender, ethnicity, or social class. By prioritizing formal analysis over the "relevance" of a work to its time, New Criticism was often perceived as indifferent or hostile to the democratic ethos and revolutionary social hopes of the era.342