文化显影、正名及其批判

Cultural Visualization, Justification and Criticism

作为奠定英国文化研究基础的重要人物,理查德•霍加特于1957年出版了其代表性著作《识字的用途》。在该书中,霍加特不无怀旧之情地书写了20世纪30年代工人阶级的生活面貌,由此也引出了他对50年代大众文化的批判以及对大众文化美国化现象的忧虑。霍加特基于其多年来成人教育的经验,以民族志研究方法细细剖析了不同时期的工人阶级文化领域,其富有意趣的书写彰显出敏锐的批判精神与反精英主义立场,开创了从文学研究到文化研究的崭新范式。在文化研究仍然兴盛的当下,《识字的用途》一书对于中国文化研究的发展仍有深刻的启示意义。

As an important figure in the foundation of British cultural studies, Richard Hoggart published his representative work—The Uses of Literacy in 1957. In this book, Hoggart writes nostalgically about the life of the working class in the 1930s, which also leads to his criticism of the popular culture of the 1950s and his concern about the Americanization of popular culture. Based on his years of experience in adult education, Hoggart dissected the working-class cultural field in different periods with ethnographic research methods. His interesting writing showed a keen critical spirit and antielitist stance, and created a new paradigm from literary studies to cultural studies. At a time when cultural studies are still flourishing, The Use of Literacy still has profound implications for the development of Chinese cultural studies.