The Research On Working Class Culture Theory Of Edward Thompson

Edward Thompson is a representative of the British New Left and a famous Marxist historian.Thompson insisted on the Marxist theory,explored and analyzed the life of the British lower class people from a bottom-up perspective.He presented a cultural picture of the British working class which was accompanied by the mainstream bourgeois culture.Thompson's theory of working class culture not only enriches Marxist theory of class culture to some extent but also broadens the research horizon of British Cultural Marxism.Taking Thompson's theory of working class culture as the research object,this paper mainly expounds and analyzes Thompson's theory of working class culture from four aspects.Primarily,the author explores the formation background of Thompson's theory of working class culture.The formation of Thompson's working class cultural theory is closely related to the development of the world proletarian revolution,the development of the major classes in the British society and Thompson's personal political involvement.And then,the author analyzes the origin of Thompson's theory of working class culture.Thompson's theory of working class culture mainly comes from three sources: The first source is it inherits Marx and Engels' theory of class culture,criticizes the Soviet union's "economic determinism" and emphasizes the use of cultural experience to promote the formation of classes.The second source is the inheritance and promotion of British cultural tradition and cultural research.He attacked Leavis' s elitist cultural view and proposed that culture is the overall struggle mode on the basis of criticizing Williams' cultural concept.In his argument with Anderson,he expounded the revolutionary tradition of the working class.Thirdly,based on Marxism and British cultural tradition,Thompson draws on Gramsci's cultural leadership theory,Lukacs' historical and class consciousness to make his own judgment on working class culture.Moreover,this paper analyzes the basic content of Thompson's theory of working class culture.The civilian culture is the predecessor of the working class culture and the accumulation of the working class' s life experience under the influence of the industrial revolution is the key to the formation of the working class culture.The working class culture has its characteristics of native,independence and progressiveness,which not only promotes the formation of the working class consciousness,but also guides the working class to seek for self-liberation.Finally,this paper proposes a contemporary review of Thompson's theory of working class culture.As a representative of British Cultural Marxism,Thompson made important contributions to the cultural field.Thompson's theory of working class culture enriches Marxist theory of class culture.From the perspective of bottom-up,it attacked the elitist cultural view and pointed out that the working class culture is progressive,which enhances the confidence of the working class to achieve self-liberation.Besides,Thompson's theory of working class culture has some limitations,such as ignoring the rationality of theoretical construction and blurring the fundamental position of productive forces in social development.Although there are some shortcomings in Thompson's theory of working class culture,it still has certain significant reference for us to construct the socialist culture with Chinese characteristics by adhering to the Marxist standpoint,emphasizing the localization of proletarian culture and paying attention to the important value of culture to the liberation of the working class.In the new era,we should explore and carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture and nourish the Chinese people's life with it.On the basis of adhering to the position of the people,we should promote the development of scientific and national socialist culture of our people.We should also strengthen cultural confidence,oppose cultural hegemony,enhance exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations,undertake new cultural missions,provide spiritual support for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and make new contributions to the development of world civilization.