Cultural Studies in Post-WWII Literary Theory: Complete UGC NET English Guide
Table of Contents
Introduction to Cultural Studies
Cultural Studies emerged as a significant interdisciplinary field in the post-WWII period, particularly from the 1960s onward, as part of the broader expansion of literary theory. It represents a radical departure from traditional literary criticism by:
- Examining cultural practices and products beyond canonical literature
- Focusing on the relationship between culture and power structures
- Analyzing how meaning is produced, circulated, and consumed
- Emphasizing the political dimensions of cultural production
Defining Cultural Studies
Cultural Studies can be understood as the critical analysis of the ways in which culture is produced, circulated, and consumed within societies, with particular attention to power relations and social hierarchies. Unlike traditional literary studies, it:
- Treats all cultural forms (TV, film, advertising, etc.) as equally worthy of study
- Rejects the high culture/low culture distinction
- Examines how cultural meanings are contested and negotiated
- Focuses on contemporary culture and its historical contexts
"Culture is ordinary: that is the first fact. Every human society has its own shape, its own purposes, its own meanings." - Raymond Williams
Historical Origins and Development
The emergence of Cultural Studies must be understood in its post-WWII historical context:
| Period | Development | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| 1950s | Foundational work by Richard Hoggart and Raymond Williams | Challenged elitist notions of culture |
| 1964 | Establishment of Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) | Institutional home for Cultural Studies |
| 1970s | Work of Stuart Hall and cultural Marxism | Incorporation of Gramsci's hegemony theory |
| 1980s-90s | Global expansion and diversification | Incorporation of feminist, postcolonial, and queer perspectives |
Intellectual Influences
Cultural Studies draws from multiple theoretical traditions:
- Marxism: Class analysis and ideology critique (especially through Gramsci's concept of hegemony)
- Structuralism and Poststructuralism: Analysis of sign systems and deconstruction of binaries
- Feminism: Gender as a category of analysis
- Postcolonial Theory: Examination of colonial legacies and cultural imperialism
- Ethnography: Study of lived cultural practices
UGC NET Focus: Be prepared to discuss how Cultural Studies differs from traditional literary studies and its relationship to Marxist theory.
The Birmingham School
The Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS), founded in 1964, was the institutional home for the development of British Cultural Studies.
Key Features of the Birmingham School
- Interdisciplinary Approach: Combined sociology, literature, history, and media studies
- Focus on Working-Class Culture: Valued everyday cultural practices
- Political Engagement: Saw cultural analysis as tied to social change
- Rejection of Cultural Hierarchy: Studied popular culture seriously
Major Works from the Birmingham School
| Scholar | Key Work | Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Richard Hoggart | The Uses of Literacy (1957) | Analysis of working-class culture; foundation for Cultural Studies |
| Stuart Hall | Encoding/Decoding (1973) | Model of media communication and audience interpretation |
| Dick Hebdige | Subculture: The Meaning of Style (1979) | Analysis of youth subcultures and resistance |
| Paul Willis | Learning to Labour (1977) | Ethnographic study of working-class youth |
UGC NET Focus: The Birmingham School's contributions are frequently tested, particularly Hoggart's and Hall's work.
Key Theorists and Their Contributions
Raymond Williams (1921-1988)
One of the founding figures of Cultural Studies, Williams developed several key concepts:
- Cultural Materialism: Analysis of cultural forms within their material conditions of production
- Structures of Feeling: The lived experience of a particular historical period
- Dominant, Residual, and Emergent Cultures: How cultural forms change over time
- Keywords: How meanings of important cultural terms evolve
Major Works: Culture and Society (1958), The Long Revolution (1961), Keywords (1976)
Stuart Hall (1932-2014)
Jamaican-British scholar who became the leading figure of Cultural Studies:
- Encoding/Decoding Model: How media messages are produced and interpreted differently
- Articulation Theory: How cultural elements combine in specific historical contexts
- Politics of Representation: How race, gender, and class are constructed in media
- Reception Theory: How audiences actively interpret cultural texts
Major Works: Encoding and Decoding in the Television Discourse (1973), Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices (1997)
Dick Hebdige (b. 1951)
Known for his work on youth subcultures:
- Subcultural Style: How marginalized groups use style to resist dominant culture
- Bricolage: Recombining existing cultural elements to create new meanings
- Homology: Relationship between subcultural values and stylistic expressions
Major Work: Subculture: The Meaning of Style (1979)
UGC NET Focus: You should be able to compare and contrast Williams' and Hall's approaches to Cultural Studies.
Core Concepts in Cultural Studies
Hegemony (Antonio Gramsci)
The process by which dominant groups in society maintain power not just through force but by shaping cultural norms and values:
- Not pure domination but a constant process of negotiation
- Requires consent of subordinate groups
- Operates through cultural institutions (media, education, etc.)
- Always contested and never complete
Encoding/Decoding Model (Stuart Hall)
A model of communication that challenges linear sender-message-receiver models:
| Reading Position | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Dominant-Hegemonic | Audience accepts preferred meaning | Reading news exactly as intended |
| Negotiated | Audience partly accepts, partly modifies meaning | Agreeing with some but not all aspects |
| Oppositional | Audience rejects preferred meaning entirely | Radical critique of media message |
Subculture (Dick Hebdige)
Groups that develop distinct styles and practices that differentiate them from mainstream culture:
- Often emerge from working-class youth
- Use style as resistance (punk, hip-hop, etc.)
- Eventually often co-opted by mainstream (commodification)
- Examples: Mods, Rockers, Punks, Goths
Cultural Materialism (Raymond Williams)
An approach that examines cultural production within its material conditions:
- Culture as a productive process (not just reflective)
- Analysis of institutions of cultural production
- Focus on historical specificity
- Political commitment to progressive change
UGC NET Focus: These core concepts frequently appear in exam questions, particularly hegemony and encoding/decoding.
Literary Applications of Cultural Studies
Cultural Studies approaches can transform how we read literary texts by:
- Placing them in broader cultural contexts
- Examining their production and reception
- Analyzing their participation in power relations
- Reading them alongside non-literary texts
Example: Reading Jane Austen Through Cultural Studies
A Cultural Studies approach to Austen might examine:
- The material conditions of novel publishing in Regency England
- Representations of class and gender in relation to historical realities
- How Austen's novels were received by different social groups
- Contemporary adaptations and their cultural meanings
- The construction of "Austen" as cultural icon
Example: Postcolonial Cultural Studies
Application to postcolonial literature might involve:
- How texts resist or reproduce colonial discourses
- The politics of publishing and canon formation
- Translation and circulation of postcolonial texts
- Representations of hybrid cultural identities
- Indigenous cultural production and global markets
UGC NET Focus: Be prepared to discuss how Cultural Studies approaches differ from traditional literary analysis.
UGC NET Practice Questions
1. Who among the following is considered a founding figure of British Cultural Studies?
- Raymond Williams
- Jacques Derrida
- Michel Foucault
- Edward Said
Explanation: Raymond Williams, along with Richard Hoggart and E.P. Thompson, is considered a founding figure of British Cultural Studies.
2. The concept of 'hegemony' in Cultural Studies was developed by:
- Karl Marx
- Antonio Gramsci
- Louis Althusser
- Stuart Hall
Explanation: While Marx discussed ideology, Gramsci developed the specific concept of hegemony as cultural leadership.
3. Which of the following best describes Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model?
- A linear model of communication from sender to receiver
- A biological model of information processing
- A model emphasizing different possible interpretations of media messages
- A mathematical model of information theory
Explanation: Hall's model emphasizes that audiences can decode media messages in dominant, negotiated, or oppositional ways.
4. Dick Hebdige's Subculture: The Meaning of Style primarily analyzes:
- Victorian literary conventions
- Modernist poetry techniques
- Post-war British youth subcultures
- Elizabethan theater practices
Explanation: Hebdige's work examines postwar British youth subcultures like mods, rockers, and punks.
5. Raymond Williams' concept of 'structures of feeling' refers to:
- Psychological disorders in literary characters
- The lived experience of a particular historical period
- Emotional responses to poetry
Explanation: Williams used this term to describe the particular quality of lived experience in a historical period.
Further Reading Resources
Essential Books
- Williams, Raymond. Culture and Society (1958)
- Hall, Stuart. Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices (1997)
- Hebdige, Dick. Subculture: The Meaning of Style (1979)
- During, Simon (ed.). The Cultural Studies Reader (1993)
- Storey, John. Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction (2001)
Academic Journals
- Cultural Studies
- Journal of Popular Culture
- Media, Culture & Society
- New Formations
UGC NET Focus: Familiarize yourself with major works by Williams, Hall, and Hebdige for the exam.
