This article offers articulation theory as a tool for listening and thinking about the culture in and around writing centers. After defining a method of articulation analysis that considers articulation, disarticulation, and rearticulation, as well as alignments, contradictions, and tensions within a context, the article performs an articulation analysis on contemporary writing center work. The analysis considers the writing center's relationship to democracy, multiculturalism, neoliberalism, ethics, and social justice, as shaped by the Great Depression, the Vietnam War, and the 2008 financial crisis. The article concludes with a reflection on the results of the analysis and interventions that may open possibilities for systemic change, including approaches to communal justicing, modeling workplace culture, and training tutors in articulation analysis.