Raymond Williams Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Raymond Williams (1921–1988) was a literary critic and political commentator whose work had a substantial impact on the political left of the United Kingdom in the years after World War II (1939–1945). Williams excelled in the cloistered academic spaces of Oxford and Cambridge universities, but his work always drew him out of that arena and into the real-world struggles of everyday people. He explored these interests through a diverse set of writings that includes novels, plays, and literary criticism.

Williams was born in Wales to a working-class family. His father worked on the railroads and was a staunch Labour Party supporter. Both of these elements would figure prominently in Williams’ later life. He would often remark about his Welsh heritage and its grounding effect on his later accomplishments. Similarly, his Labour roots undoubtedly affected his early political leanings and lifelong dedication to exposing inequality’s cultural roots through criticism and literary expression. Williams served in World War II and then returned to Cambridge to complete his education. Subsequently, he taught for a number of years in adult education programs. During this period, he began writing, and he was offered a position at Cambridge where he would remain until retirement.

Williams’ prominent volume that captured the attention of academics was Culture and Society (1958). In this work, Williams dove into English literary history from the 1700s to the 1900s, examining changes in the concept and meaning of culture. Through the works of British philosopher Edmund Burke, English poet William Blake, and English author George Orwell, Williams fashioned a new way of thinking about the evolution of the term culture as well as the social structures it was used to describe. Chief among the reasons for the development and change to the notion of culture was the massive upheaval led by the Industrial Revolution. In 1976, Williams’s Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society was published. It was intended to be an appendix to Culture and Society but has become a classic text on its own.

Among the many other works of note in Williams’ oeuvre, two others are of special note. One is a brief volume on Orwell. This text is important because many casual observers might assume that Williams had special appreciation for Orwell, but this was not the case. Although they held a number of similar ethical and political commitments, the volume is critical of many aspects of Orwell’s work. The other key text is Marxism and Literature (1977), which spells out Williams’s views on the emerging field of cultural studies and delineates his ideas from ones relying on structuralism.

Williams’s influence on the politics of the left was apparent during his lifetime, and his importance has only grown since his death. He has been a tremendous influence on literary, social, and political theorists across the globe. The field of cultural studies owes him a huge debt, as do scholars in disciplines such as political science, anthropology, sociology, and law who seek to understand the interconnections between culture, society, and the ever-changing forms of human expression.

Bibliography:

Williams, Raymond. Culture and Society. London: Chatto and Windus, 1958.
Fontana Communications Series. London: Collins, 1976.
Marxism and Literature. London: Oxford University Press, 1977.

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