Culture and Society
Encyclopedia
Culture and Society is a book published in 1958 by Welsh leftist
writer Raymond Williams
, exploring how the notion of culture
developed in the West
, especially Great Britain
, from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries.
When first published, the book was widely regarded as having overturned conventional social and historical thinking about culture. It argues that the notion of culture developed in response to the Industrial Revolution
and the social and political changes it brought in its wake. This is done through a series of studies of famous British writers and essayists, beginning with Edmund Burke
and William Cobbett
, also looking at William Blake
, William Wordsworth
, etc., and continuing as far as F. R. Leavis
, George Orwell
and Christopher Caudwell
.
The book is still in print, in several editions. It has also been translated into many languages.
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
writer Raymond Williams
Raymond Williams
Raymond Henry Williams was a Welsh academic, novelist and critic. He was an influential figure within the New Left and in wider culture. His writings on politics, culture, the mass media and literature are a significant contribution to the Marxist critique of culture and the arts...
, exploring how the notion of culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
developed in the West
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
, especially Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries.
When first published, the book was widely regarded as having overturned conventional social and historical thinking about culture. It argues that the notion of culture developed in response to the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
and the social and political changes it brought in its wake. This is done through a series of studies of famous British writers and essayists, beginning with Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
and William Cobbett
William Cobbett
William Cobbett was an English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist, who was born in Farnham, Surrey. He believed that reforming Parliament and abolishing the rotten boroughs would help to end the poverty of farm labourers, and he attacked the borough-mongers, sinecurists and "tax-eaters" relentlessly...
, also looking at William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
, William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
, etc., and continuing as far as F. R. Leavis
F. R. Leavis
Frank Raymond "F. R." Leavis CH was an influential British literary critic of the early-to-mid-twentieth century. He taught for nearly his entire career at Downing College, Cambridge.-Early life:...
, George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
and Christopher Caudwell
Christopher Caudwell
Christopher Caudwell is the pseudonym of Christopher St. John Sprigg , a British Marxist writer, thinker and poet.He was born into a Catholic family living at 53 Montserrat Road, Putney district, south-west London...
.
The book is still in print, in several editions. It has also been translated into many languages.
By Williams
- Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and SocietyKeywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and SocietyKeywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society is a book written by the Welsh Marxist academic Raymond Williams, and published in 1976 by Croom Helm....
(Croom Helm, 1976). Originally intended as an appendix to Culture and Society.
About Williams
- Don Milligan, Raymond Williams: Hope and Defeat in the Struggle for Socialism (ebook) Studies in Anti-Capitalism, 2007. Retrieved January 16, 2009.
- Francis Mulhern, "Culture and Society, Then and Now", New Left ReviewNew Left ReviewNew Left Review is a 160-page journal, published every two months from London, devoted to world politics, economy and culture. Often compared to the French-language Les Temps modernes, it is associated with Verso Books , and regularly features the essays of authorities on contemporary social...
55, Jan–Feb 2009. Retrieved January 16, 2009.