A Study On Raymond Williams' Cultural Theor

Raymond Williams is the pioneer of British cultural theory research and an important founder of Marxist cultural theory.The cultural materialism he founded is the core topic that cannot be avoided in the current research on cultural theory,and is an indispensable spiritual legacy for the development of Chinese cultural theory in the new era and the construction of Chinese Marxist cultural philosophy.The research on Williams’ cultural theory can be divided into three levels: first,it analyzes Williams’ understanding of culture and examines the advantages of Williams’ construction of cultural theory,which will have positive significance for exploring and transforming Chinese local cultural theory;The second is to reveal the practical mode of its theory on the basis of exploring its theory,and find some basic problems that cultural theory may face in practice in the criticism of Western Marxism on its theory,so as to provide valuable experience for the practical path of cultural theory in China;The third is to try to introduce the reference part of Williams’ cultural theory into the construction of Chinese Marxist cultural philosophy,and combine it with depicting,explaining and transforming Chinese local culture,so as to provide ideas for the exploration of the road of Chinese cultural modernization.Williams’ cultural theory was born on the basis of Marxist philosophy and the context of the British era.On the one hand,Marxist philosophy,as a materialist doctrine,has endowed Williams with the characteristics of cultural theory materialism,so the foundation of its cultural theory is also based on material attributes and social relations.Williams’ cultural theory,on the other hand,is embedded in the context of overall social history.With the development of British capitalism after World War II,an elitist cultural paradigm became the mainstream of the times,and it was based on this background that Williams established the basic problems that must be solved in cultural development,that is,the problem of cultural inequality in social development and the lack of influence of culture in social construction.On the basis of clarifying its theoretical origins,the implementation path of Williams’ cultural theory can be explained.First of all,through the examination and criticism of the relationship between "foundation" and "superstructure",he reinterpreted the "economic determinism" of Marxism,so that the theoretical status of culture has been unprecedentedly improved,and even presents a "culturalist" tendency that seems to be extreme;Secondly,in the construction of his cultural theory,he used the construction method of "keyword semantics",examined the transmutation of ideas from the change of semantics,explored the relationship between culture and society through the analysis of key words,and then put forward his representative viewpoint-cultural materialism;Finally,through the analysis of the core ideas of Williams’ cultural materialism,it can be found that he actually regarded culture as a holistic way of life,understood culture as a whole,and connected culture and society with "emotional structure" as a link.With the development of Williams’ cultural theory,the practical path and goal of his cultural theory have also achieved a great leap.His reinterpretation of culture made cultural activities begin to appear in society as a new practical form of material production,and then became an important part of the great cause of socialism.At the same time,as a literary critic,Williams recognized the importance of literary criticism in cultural practice activities,and believed that literary criticism is also a critical way of social ideology,and that literary problems and literary criticism can well reflect many social problems existing in social practice,which is undoubtedly an extension of the practical form of cultural theory.By pointing out the practical path of Williams’ cultural theory,we can find that the way forward is also to achieve its ultimate goal,that is,a "common culture" with both equality and dynamics.Of course,on the basis of deeply exploring the characteristics and advantages of Williams’ cultural theory,it is necessary to further analyze the problems existing in his theory to ensure the comprehensiveness and objectivity of his understanding of cultural theory as much as possible.The foreseeable result is that although Williams’ cultural theory has a profound influence in Britain,it has still been questioned and dissatisfied by Western Marxists.Taking the members of the first and second generation of New Left as examples,they both pointed out many problems that might exist in Williams’ cultural theory on the premise of affirming the positive significance of Williams’ cultural theory.For example,Thompson denied Williams’ view of "holistic culture";Richard Hogart questioned the path of Williams’ cultural research;Stuart Hall criticized Williams’ "culturalism" paradigm.Therefore,the study of Williams’ cultural theory must have a more comprehensive view of its contribution and limitations to the current study of Marxist cultural philosophy.Only in this way can we better analyze the applicability of William’s cultural theory in the context of contemporary China and promote the localization of his cultural theory research in China,Make efforts to build socialist cultural theory and cultural order with new era characteristics that are more in line with national conditions.