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Week 14

ENGLAND AND THE IDEA OF CULTURAL STUDIES

INTRODUCTION—READ THIS CAREFULLY BEFORE THE CLASS

In this class you have been studying culture. In many of your other classes the word “culture” has probably been used, too. Cultural Studies is, in fact, the fastest-growing university subject in the world. Nevertheless, the word “culture” is surprisingly complicated, and it is not always clear what it means, or why we should study it. To many people today culture means something like “lifestyle,” but if that is ALL it means, then why do we need the word at all?

Before the lecture, think about what “culture” means to you. If you hear someone mention, say, “French culture” or “Russian culture” what sort of ideas come into your mind? In the class we’ll think about different definitions of culture, and learn about how and why different kinds of culture were studied in the past. The modern idea of “Cultural Studies” was not developed until the 1950s, and it was developed in England, though it has since become very international.

This final lecture should make you think about “the point” and the value of the sort of things you have learned in this class. Hopefully it will also help you think about “the point” and the value of other classes you are taking.

Part One: What is “Culture”? Three Definitions

(i) The modern English word “culture” comes from the German word “kultur.” This was first used by Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) and other German writers of the late 1700s to describe the “spiritual nature” of a nation or group of people.

(ii) Soon afterwards, other German writers, such as Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835), began using the word “kultur” in a different sense, and one closer to its Latin root, cultivus. They used it to describe the greatest artistic achievements of humans, and the ability to appreciate them. To them “kultur” was connected with study and “self-cultivation.”

(iii) Since the 1950s the word “culture” has been used to describe everything humans do and make. In particular it has been used to describe the tools and mechanisms that define and shape individuals in a social environment (fashion, media, cinema, popular music, magazines, etc.).

Part Two: What kind of Culture has been Studied in England? And Why?

(1) Before the 1950s the STUDY of culture was mainly limited to (ii) above (with a little bit of (i)). But this study changed over time, partly because of changing ideas about what the greatest intellectual and artistic achievements of humans actually were, and partly because of changes in the institutions where those studies were undertaken.

(a) Before the 1700s the only culture seriously studied in Western Europe was the literature of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome (culture ii). Learning Latin was considered to be the most important part of education.

(b) In the 1700s serious interest began to be taken in modern and national culture (culture ii). “Something significant happened, shortly after 1750 … art and literature ceased to be recreations, and became studies, devoted … to the nurturing and refining of the soul” (Roger Scruton, An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Modern Culture, 1998). At this time there was published in England: Horace Walpole’s Anecdotes of Painting in England (1762-4), Thomas Warton’s The History of English Poetry (1774-81), and Charles Burney’s A General History of Music (1776-89). In the 1700s, too, serious books about other countries and cultures (culture i, ii, and a bit of iii) began to become popular—Englebert Kaempfer’s History of Japan (1729) is a good example. Books like this began to make clear what was distinctive about British culture (culture i, ii, and even iii).

(c) In the 1800s, as the range of subjects taught in universities increased dramatically, the study of modern and national culture (culture ii) became increasingly common and organised. As you’ve learned already, in 1859 University College London became the first university in the world to offer a degree in “English Literature.” By the early 1900s the study of English Literature had become one of the most popular and fast-developing university subjects.

(2) Since the 1950s the study of culture has grown to include culture iii above, and since 1964 the study of culture iii has been specifically called “Cultural Studies.” By the 1980s “Cultural Studies” had become the fastest-growing academic subject in the world. Ideas developed within “Cultural Studies” were by this time being used in the older and more specialised cultural studies (English Literature, Music, History of Art, etc.)

Part Three: What Made “Cultural Studies” Develop?

(1) Modern Cultural Studies was developed by a group of young British scholars in the 1950s: Richard Hoggart (1918-2014), Raymond Williams (1921-88), E. P. Thompson (1924-93), and Stuart Hall (1932-2014). They are often called the “Founding Fathers” of Cultural Studies. Three of them came from working-class families (Hoggart, Williams, Thompson). All of them went to university (on scholarships). Three of them studied English Literature (Hoggart, Williams, Hall). All of them had strong socialist views. All of them taught at adult education institutes (though they later moved to universities).

(2) Hoggart, Williams, Thompson and Hall were all impressed and influenced by the methods used by English Literature scholars. These methods included careful readings of the words of a text and careful use of history to place a text in context. What they disliked was the ELITISM of English Literature. They felt that the books studied in English Literature courses were all part of a “high” culture (culture ii) designed for the upper- and middle-classes and therefore expressed the values of those classes. The books seemed to have little to do with the working classes: in other words, with the majority of people in England.

(3) Yet Hoggart, Williams, Thompson and Hall believed that the working classes did have a valuable culture of their own—a culture that had never been studied in universities. They began studying this “popular” culture.

(4) In 1964, Richard Hoggart, who had become a Professor of English Literature at the University of Birmingham, founded the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) there. This gave “Cultural Studies” a name and official status of its own and allowed it to develop independently of English Literature. It was the first institution in the world to award degrees in Cultural Studies.

Part Four: Del Boy at the Opera House

British Cultural Studies has been strongly interested in the relationship between culture and social class. We’ll think about this by focusing on an extract from the 1986 Christmas Special of Only Fools and Horses, called “A Royal Flush.” In this episode Rodney becomes friendly with Victoria (Vicky), the daughter of a Duke. She persuades him to take her to see Carmen at the Royal Opera House. Rodney has never been to an opera, or a theatre before, and he feels very awkward when he gets there. But then his situation suddenly gets much more uncomfortable when Del unexpectedly turns up …

Look out for these moments:

When Del first arrives he pushes a lady at the bar to make room, then says “Alright darling? They reckon it’s gonna be a good’un tonight.”

Rodney mistakes Del’s date for a kissogram.
The following conversation between Vicky and June:

Vicky: So you’re an opera buff as well, are you June?

June: I saw one once on BBC 2. Our telly had gone up the wall, it was the only channel we could get.

Del and Rodney mistake the bell announcing the beginning of the performance for the bell announcing the closure of the bar.
The following conversation between Del and June:

Del: It’s a blindin’ opera, in’t it?

June: It’s alright I suppose. It don’t get going, does it?

Del: Well no, it’s not meant to get going – it’s culture. You don’t come to an opera to enjoy it, you come … ’cos it’s there.

June: Oh, I didn’t know that. I like Vince Hill.

Del: Well yeah, I like Vince Hill. Yeah. Yeah. He’s almost culture, but not quite. But almost.

The following conversation between Del and Rodney:

Del: Rodney, put your arm round her shoulder. Put your arm round her!

Rodney: I don’t … but Del, this is not the Odeon.

Part Five: Cultural Studies After The CCCS

In the 1970s and 80s the new style of Cultural Studies began spreading to other countries, especially India, the United States, Canada, Australia, and France. In these new locations some of the emphases changed. While British Cultural Studies had been very concerned with class, in other countries more emphasis was placed on things like race, gender, sexuality, and issues connected with colonization. While in Britain Cultural Studies had been very political (left-wing) and essentially anti-institutional, in some other countries—especially the United States—it lost these elements, and immediately became a “safe” academic subject.

Since the 1980s the different versions of Cultural Studies have spread and spread—along with Western culture. One of the most interesting arguments made against Cultural Studies, in fact, is that it is itself a new kind of colonization.

“It is one thing to study popular culture. It is quite another to romanticize junk and give it academic respectability. The legitimacy that Cultural Studies provides for infantile Western culture has a detrimental effect on Third World societies. Respectable social scientists in places as distant as Delhi and Taiwan spend their time studying, teaching and defending Western junk at the expense of their own rich cultural heritage.” (Ziauddin Sardar and Borin Van Loon, Cultural Studies for Beginners, 1997)

YOU ARE YOUR CHOICES: A FINAL THOUGHT

LIFE is not just something that you live. It is something that you build, or assemble. As with any building, it is important to choose the right building materials!

The most important thing that you can do when you are young is to create a solid and stable “foundation” on which you can continue to build later in life. This means finding things that will give you pleasure and strength in 20 years time—or 40 years time.