The Research On Edward Thompson's Cultural Materialism

Edward Thompson was the founder of English New left cultural studies in the post-war era and a great Marxist historian in the English world.As a British Marxist,Thompson starts from the empirical study of social history,criticizes traditional Marxism,and carefully demonstrates the present and the present with the ancient in many fields such as history,sociology,culture and philosophy,trying to explore a kind of historical materialism-"Cultural Materialism" which is suitable in the free capitalist era.It is not only caused many fierce debates,sometimes even severe and harsh criticism,but also established its unique position in the history of British Marxism.This dissertation takes Thompson's "Cultural Materialism" as the research object,mainly from its generation background,core thought,theoretical consciousness,contemporary reflection and other aspects.First of all,from the perspective of ideological background,the formation of Thompson's "Cultural Materialism" is not only deeply influenced by the British historical and cultural traditions,but also closely related to the development of British society and the world after the War II.At the same time,the thought of "Cultural Materialism" embodies Thompson's firm belief in the historical materialism created by Marx,as well as leads to a heated debate within the British New Marxism.It can be said that it is in the debate that Thompson's thought of "Cultural Materialism" shows further.Secondly,from the perspective of core ideology,Thompson's "Cultural Materialism" reinterprets the important categories of economic foundation and superstructure,social existence and social consciousness,and the cultural interpretation based on "practice experience" extends and expands Marxist cultural theory.One of the characteristics of his "Cultural Materialism" thought is to emphasize the basic role of practice.He used the research of the social empirical history of the 18 th century to support his theory with practical arguments,in which he made a lot of statements on the formation of the British working class,fully demonstrated the formation process of the working class culture,and showed that culture belongs to everyone in the society.Under such a thinking framework,the historical generation and influence of culture have obvious practical characteristics.Only when people play their subjective initiative can they better enrich social practice,and then realize the new development of socialism in England through cultural change.Thirdly,in the theoretical consciousness,Thompson ' action provides a different starting point for thinking.Finally,it is necessary to reflect on Thompson's "Cultural Materialism" thought with Marxist standpoint,viewpoint and method,evaluate its rationality and limitation scientifically and objectively,stick to the view of history and overall,pay attention to excavating the modern value of excellent traditional culture,and play the leading role of culture based on practice.In a word,although Thompson's thought of "Cultural Materialism" is incomplete and utopian,it pays attention to the authenticity of history,the concreteness of practice and refuses to dogmatize Marxism,which makes Thompson's thought of "Cultural Materialism" still have contemporary value.The thought of "Cultural Materialism" not only embodies Thompson's insistence on the historical materialism created by Marx,also shows a strong "Englishness".Its theoretical,political and cultural thinking rooted in the history and reality of England is still worthy of affirmation.Therefore,the in-depth study of Thompson's "Cultural Materialism" is still of certain reference significance for us to promote the development of historical materialism in China and promote the construction of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics.