Study On The Thoughts About British Working Class Culture And Education

In the history of British education,the "New Left" that emerged after the World War II was devoted to the working class education in Britain for the purpose of the working class liberation.Among them,members such as Richard Hoggart,Raymond Williams and Edward Thompson,committed to working class culture and education research on the grounds of protecting the working class culture.They thus pioneered the knowledge project of "Cultural Studies",which was famous later in worldwide.They were also regarded as the founders of British Cultural Studies.When faced the cultural issue of post-war British society,especially the "classless" debate,Hoggart,Williams and Thompson conducted research on working class culture and explored the cultural basis of working class education in the field of adult education at the beginning.Then they continued to think about the issue of working class education as university teachers in formal education system.Hoggart,Williams and Thompson advocated the expansion of the concept of "culture" to against the British cultural and educational elitism,and they created a paradigm of education research called"culturalism".On the basis of these,they committed to the working class education to achieve the working class liberation.Therefore,the British Cultural Studies Hoggart,Williams and Thompson initiated were essentially a kind of working class culture and education research,which has unique significance in the history of British educational thought.By taking three founders of the Cultural Studies,Hoggart,Williams and Thompson,as the center of investigation,and linking to the emergence of British Cultural Studies,this dissertation attempted to examine the social and educational background of their thoughts,to analyze the main connotation of their thoughts,to explore their theoretical resources and the essence of their thoughts,and to review the characteristics,influence and significance of their thoughts.The whole dissertation was divided into six chapters.The first chapter was "introduction".At first,it explained the research topic and its significance.Taking three founders of the Cultural Studies as the center of investigation,this dissertation was to explore their main cultural and educational thoughts and their position in the history of British educational thoughts.This research could enrich the study of the history of British educational thoughts in China,provide cultural and educational theoretical resources for the rise of "educational cultural studies" in China,and it could advance the history of examining the connotation of "education".Secondly,this part reviewed related research results about the foundation of British Cultural Studies,the relationship between British adult education and the emergence of British Cultural Studies,and about Hoggart,Williams and Thompson's educational thoughts and practices.Then it defined the core concept of the dissertation.Thirdly,it also expounded the research design,explained the appropriateness of the research methodology,and introduced the specific research methods and related historical data.This dissertation used Mannheim's "knowledge sociology" as the methodology,and adopted text analysis and comparative method as the specific research methods.The second chapter focused on the historical background of the emergence of British Cultural Studies.After the World War II,due to the construction of the welfare state,there was the myth of "Wealthy society" in the British society.In addition,the invasion of American culture caused the British original class culture to encounter popularization.The confluence of the two forces,both indigenous and foreign,sparked the debate about the "classless".In the field of education,there had a major shift in adult education in the first half of the 20th century.It had shifted from class-based working class education to state-based mass adult education,which led to the re-emergence of the problem of working class education.Thanks to the involvement of British "New Left",members like Hoggart,Williams and Thompson,the cultural issue had been combined with the educational issue of working class.The British Cultural Studies emerged in such historical contexts.The third chapter examined the adult education practices of Hoggart,Williams and Thompson,and analyzed their based work of Cultural Studies written in the field of adult education.Hoggart,Williams and Thompson joined the ranks of adult education lecturers after the end of World War II.In the process of contacting with the working class,they pondered the cultural issue further,and theorized their thoughts.Then they completed their famous works,The Use of literacy,Culture and Society,The Long Revolution and The Making of the English Working Class.Their works responded to the issue of "classless" from different perspective,thus proved the existence of working class culture.Their efforts laid a theoretical foundation for the study of the working class education and they analyzed the working class education in different angles and at different levels.The fourth chapter described the main educational topics of Hoggart,Williams and Thompson.Along with the turn of British adult education,they left the field of adult education and entered the higher education system.As university teachers,although their workplace has changed,Hoggart,Williams and Thompson did not change their positions,and they continued to think about the working class education.Hoggart criticized the "English temper" in British education,disclosing the class prejudice and the tendency of vocationalism in British education,pointing out the shortcomings in British higher education.Williams envisioned the "border country" of his ideal of adult education,expounding the nature and principles of adult education,adult education teaching,the relationship of mass communication and adult education.Thompson attacked the excessive dependence of the "business university" represented by Warwick University on the industry,analyzing the affiliation relationship between Warwick University and industrial capitalism further on the basis of discussing the relationship between "education and experience",and clarifying the ideal of the university.The fifth chapter demonstrated the essence of the British Cultural Studies,pioneered by Hoggart,Williams and Thompson,was working class culture and education research.Hoggart,Williams and Thompson inherited the British"culture-civilization" tradition critically.While approbating the idea of "education is the way to culture" of the tradition,they abandoned its elitism and occupied the educational space of the working class culture.They created a unique "culturalism"paradigm of education research.They adopted "culture","class" and "experience" as the core category to resist the British elitism and highlight the significance of culture and education in the working class movement for liberation.Then,Hoggart,Williams and Thompson formed their own important thoughts about the working class education:the cultivation of "critical literacy",the construction of "educated and participating democracy",the making of "working class consciousness".The ultimate aim of the three was to achieve socialist democracy and the liberation of the working class.The sixth chapter was reflection and reference.It mainly summarized the characteristics,influence and significance of British Cultural Studies initiated by Hoggart,Williams and Thompson from the perspective of the history of educational thought.This part first analyzed the relationship between British Cultural Studies and Marxism,and examined the shortcomings of their theoretical thinking.Based on the comparison of main cultural and educational thoughts of the Frankfurt School to the British Culturalist,it was to highlight the characteristics of British Cultural Studies.Hoggart,Williams and Thompson were unwilling to conduct pure theoretical academic research.In contrast,they paid more attention to the combination of theory and the practice of the working class movement,and attached importance to their contribution as intellectuals to the liberation of the working class.Thus,it examined the most important changes of Cultural Studies that have taken place in the course of its theoretical travel:Cultural Studies had suffered from "political aphasia".However,the significance of British Cultural Studies has not been lost completely.The tradition pioneered by Hoggart,Williams and Thompson was passed down partially by the Birmingham School.It was still valuable that their cultural studies were when neo-liberalism influenced the society and education in Britain in all aspects.