The Analysis Of The Cultural Materialism About Thompson

Today the world is undergoing great changes and adjustment period. The world multi-polarization and economic globalization are strengthen developing. Science and technology is changing rapidly. A variety of ideas and cultural blend of confrontation is more frequent, the status and role of culture in the competition of comprehensive national strength is more prominent. Cultural activities with economic activities, political activities are intertwined and interactions, constituting the main connotation of the movement and development of human society. The "Cultural materialism", as a kind of cultural analysis and methodology, on the one hand emphasizes the materiality of cultural production, on the other hand highlights the creativity of cultural practice.Edward Palmer Thompson was a distinguished historian representative figures of Western Marxism, is also a typical representative active of British neo-Marxist. Like many Marxist, Thompson unscrambles the historical materialism on the basis of practical materialism. Particularly he highlights the subjective initiative and adds cultural factors in this process. As a result, he forms a brand new social and cultural analysis. This article intends to start from the connotation of the analysis of cultural materialism, through studying Thompson’s major landmark book-"the Formation of English Working Class"(anglicizing the cultural traditions, the working class, the initiative, class consciousness, and from the bottom up to see), in order to grasp the cultural materialism of Thompson.The full text is divided into three parts, including preface, body and conclusion. The body is composed of three chapters:The first chapter focuses on the definition of culture on Williams and Eagleton, and their common cultural materialistic thinking and cultural materialism. Cultural Materialism is built on the basis of opposing economic determinism, which advocates a common culture. It considers that culture is a daily way of life and emphasizes the material and production process of culture itself, which prompting the British Marxist cultural studies toward a new pattern.The second chapter describes cultural materialism of Thompson from cultural traditions of the working class, the initiative, class consciousness, as well as from the bottom up throughout the word-"the Formation of English Working Class".The third chapter is mainly discussed the importance of cultural materialism about Thompson in contemporary from four aspects. Firstly, enriching the social awareness means of Marxism; secondly, clearly demonstrating the theory of the masses making history; thirdly, suring the dynamic role of cultural practices; finally, providing new ideas for innovative practice.