首先，柏楊認為在一九六○年代的臺灣，中國傳統文化的力量仍然牢不可破，它不但造成各種社會問題，也阻礙了經濟與現代化的發展。其次，柏楊將臺灣的文化菁英區分成兩個對立的團體：傳統儒家式的道德菁英（聖崽）與近代中國的西化知識菁英（西崽）。這兩種精英團體剛好對應於文化保守主義和全盤西化的兩種主張，在柏楊看來，兩者都不能適合於社會的需要：前者抗拒一切必要的改革，後者則只進行表面的西化，但並未觸及中國文化的本質。此外，對於中國共產黨在一九四九年贏得全面勝利的原因，柏楊認為是由於中國傳統文化中具有許多不良因素，使得馬克思主義得以在中國開花結果。但中國文化仍缺乏馬克思主義所具有的一些基本要素，例如唯物辯證法、「不斷鬥爭」的政治哲學等等，因此馬克思主義被柏楊稱為「硫磺缸」，並與中國傳統文化的「醬缸」有所區隔。最後，在醬缸文化的論述中，柏楊不僅重視醬缸在意識型態的成因（儒家思想），同時也重視它的社會結構成因（官僚主導的社會）。儒家思想作為主流的意識型態，就會使這種社會結構變得更加穩定；它不但為專制君主提供正當性的依據，也使人們在其思想前提中就認為，堅持正義與反抗權威在本質上就是一種錯誤。

At first, Bo yang thinks the Chinese traditional culture rooted in Taiwan in the 1960s, which not only triggered various social problems, but hindered economic developments and modernization as well. In addition, he categorizes the Taiwanese cultural elites into two opposite groups: one, the conventional, Confucian and moralized elites; the other, the modernized, Westernized intellectuals. These two groups respectively correspond to two positions: the former one in favor of Cultural conservatism; the latter one for complete Westernization. In Bo yang's perspective, the advocates of these two claims do not meet the society's need, because the former one resist every necessary reforms, while the latter one only try to carry out the trivial Westernization without transforming the essence of the Chinese culture. Moreover, Bo yang finds that many harmful factors intrinsic in the Chinese traditions instead facilitated the prevalence of Marxism in China, which finally led to the CCP's overwhelming victory in 1949. Still, the Chinese culture lacks the fundamental factors of Marxism, for instance, the materialistic dialectics, the political philosophy of "constant struggle," and that is why Bo yang calls Marxism "the vat of brimstone", opposite to "the vat of soy sauce" (jiang gang) which crystallizes the Chinese traditional culture. Finally, in his arguments about the cultural discourse of jiang gang, Bo yang focuses on the causes not only from the ideology (Confucianism), but also from the social structure (bureaucrat-ruling society). As a mainstream ideology, Confucianism has this social structure more stable, justifies despotism, and becomes the prerequisite that it is erroneous to adhere to justice and defy the authority.