{"id":119,"date":"2024-03-26T08:51:18","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T08:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/routledgelearning.com\/culturaltheory\/?post_type=content&p=119"},"modified":"2024-04-03T08:14:36","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T08:14:36","slug":"chapter-3-culturalism-into-cultural-studies","status":"publish","type":"content","link":"https:\/\/routledgelearning.com\/culturaltheory\/chapter-resources\/chapter-3-culturalism-into-cultural-studies\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 3 – Culturalism into cultural studies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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Chapter 3 – Culturalism into cultural studies<\/h1>\n\n\n

In this chapter I shall consider the work produced in the late 1950s and early 1960s by Richard Hoggart, Raymond Williams, E.P. Thompson, and Stuart Hall and Paddy Whannel. This body of work, despite certain differences between its authors, constitutes the founding texts of culturalism. As Hall (1978) was later to observe, \u2018Within cultural studies in Britain, \u201cculturalism\u201d has been the most vigorous, indigenous strand\u2019 (19). The chapter will end with a brief discussion of the institutionalization of culturalism into cultural studies at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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Before you read <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Warm-up<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Watch a video introducing cultural studies as a university course [link<\/a>] . Write down the most important aspects of cultural studies mentioned there to later compare them with the discipline\u2019s premise explained in Chapter 3. How does that presentation reflect on the ideas and method(ologie)s of cultural studies?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Preliminary questions<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Chapter 2 established the significance of Arnold and Leavis to the study of cultural theory and popular culture and explored some of their key ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This chapter discusses how their influence is seen in the work of Richard Hoggart, Raymond Williams and E.P. Thompson. However, perhaps more importantly, Chapter 3 also details the ways in which this new work was also the beginnings of a different direction in Cultural Studies, marking a break with the Culture and Civilization tradition. The work of Hoggart, Williams and Thompson should not be underestimated in terms of how it informed and shaped the thinking of other cultural theorists who came later, particularly Stuart Hall and Paddy Whannel. Significantly, the development of the field led to the formation of The Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies in 1964 by Hoggart. It established Cultural Studies as an academic discipline. Some of the questions the Centre explored \u2013and which you yourself may like to consider \u2013 centred on the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • Should culture simply be defined as \u2018a way of life\u2019?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • If so, how do we study and document a way of life and lived cultures?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Who and what counts as evidence of a way of life? What counts as history and whose history are we talking about? Were the 1930s really better than the 1950s?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • What is the relationship between working-class culture and popular culture? Is it possible to identify, specifically, a working-class way of life?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • To what extent are people active in the production of culture as opposed to their supposed passive consumption of it?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • What kind of transition in the intellectual practice and institutionalizing studies on culture is being discussed in the chapter?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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    After you read: Important ideas <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Chapter 3 transitions from traditional cultural criticism towards \u201cdisciplined\u201d cultural studies. As such, it outlines the people and ideas associated with the Birmingham School of cultural theory. By doing Quizzes 3.1 and 3.2. you will have the opportunity to better understand that association and test your understanding of the importance of the shift Chapter 3 presents for you. While doing that think of conceptual changes regarding mass culture and working-class culture, and those regarding culture appreciation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Quiz 3.1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    How would you refer to the following statements (Choose between true<\/em> or false<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n