"The Uses Of Literacy", As The Real Beginning Of Cultural Studies——Study On Cultural Ideas Of Richard Hoggart

In1957, Richard Hoggart, who was born in a working-class family, wrote a book called The Uses of Literacy when he thought about the current working-class culture was corrupted and decayed by eroding of the American culture. He hoped that the book can appeal to the working class come back to "The’Real" World of People"(1920s-1930s). And this book was named the foundation of Cultural Studies with other two books by scholars. One of the two is Culture and Society, which is wrote by Raymond Williams, and the other one is The Making of the English Working Class. which is wrote by Edward Thompson. However, study works about The Uses of Literacy are relatively less in China. Scholars don’t pay much attention on the importance of Hoggart’s book for several subjective and objective reasons. So it’s necessary to read The Uses of Literacy again and find out its value on the development of Cultural Studies.In his book, Hoggart made the full uses of good memory of his teenage and then vividly restored the climate of life and culture of the working class to the life, which let the current people touch the inherent vitality of the culture of English working class again and found the feeling of existence for the working class in a society which is called "classless". At the same time, he criticized the mass culture of1940s to 1950s. He investigated the subculture of young people which become the new subject of Cultural Studies. Hoggart turned the ordinary life of people into a regular subject of academic research and made use of interdisciplinary way to explain questions to readers. He also refuted the idea of culture supported by elites and the economic determinism introduced by blindsided Marxism. What’s more, he stressed on the importance of popular culture in the process of social development. The Uses of Literacy offered possibilities to the later scholars and thus constituted the real beginning of cultural studies.