A Study On E.P.thompson’s Theory Of Working Class Culture

In the middle of the twentieth century,Edward Palmer Thompson used struggle experience as a breakthrough point in The Making of the English Working Class to show the dynamic formation process of the working class.And in a series of subsequent papers,Thompson made a more in-depth explanation of the working class and working class culture,which finally constructed his theory of working class culture.His outstanding theoretical achievements and the great interdisciplinary influence of his theories made him respected as a master of Marxist historical and cultural studies.This article focuses on E.P.Thompson’s theory of working class culture,and analyzes his theory from four major aspects: its theoretical generation background,the concept of "experience" and Thompson’s definition of class,the tradition of resistance and the nature of working class culture,and the value and limitation of his theory.The thesis is mainly divided into four parts: the first part analyzes the generative context of Thompson’s theory of working class culture from three aspects: the research path and method of Marxist history,the influence of the British New Left Movement on the construction of Thompson’s theory,and the rise of the study of British working class culture.The second chapter explains Thompson’s redefinition of class with "experience" as the entry point."Experience" is one of the core concepts in Thompson’s theoretical system.Thompson makes full use of the subjective and objective dual dimensions of the concept of experience to restore class to a dynamic process of social and cultural formation,and emphasizes the importance of human subjective initiative in this process.The third chapter starts from the view that " culture is the overall way of struggle " which proposed by Thompson,and then interprets the theoretical conflict and collisions between him and Richard Hoggart and Raymond Williams.On this basis,it analyzes the important role played by the tradition of resistance in common people’s culture in the 18 th century in England and the struggle experience of working class in the construction of the working class culture.Finally,it makes a comprehensive summary of the essence and characteristics of the working class culture.The fourth chapter elaborates the value and limitation of Thompson’s theory of working class culture.Thompson’s research on the working class and working class culture adopts a "bottomup" perspective,affirms the subject initiative of the working class,highlights the ideological concern of humanitarianism and the active role of culture in practice,and provides a research paradigm for social history and cultural studies.But at the same time,there are also problems and limitations in Thompson’s research,such as overemphasizing the role of experience and culture,rejecting theory and abstraction.