Raymond Williams的文化理論及其教育蘊義

[[abstract]]Raymond Williams’ Cultural Theory and Its Implications for Education Abstract The purpose of this study is to explore Williams’ thoughts on cultural theory and its implications for education. In order to understand his theoretical framework thoroughly, this study begins with a brief sketch of his background and the intellectual climate in England. Then, this study discusses how Williams’ cultural theory is constituted and influenced by important thoughts, including Leavisism, Marxism, Gramscism, etc. Next, this study focuses on the main content of Williams’ cultural theory, which is based on hegemony and uses it to analyze cultural and social tradition. Based on the discussion mentioned above, the derivative implication on education is raised. The conclusions of the study are as follows: First, the core proposition of Williams’ cultural theory is that every society owns its special structure of feeling. Secondly, due to the invisible operation of hegemony in our society and the filtration of selective tradition, the mainstream culture cannot be equal to our life. And then language becomes the symbol of class due to the operation of power. Thirdly, Williams hopes to establish an educated and participating democracy by way of the development of technology and media, and then the ideal of common culture will be fulfilled. Fourthly, in order to equalize the educational opportunity, education should be considered as the process of de-hegemony, the extension of structure of feeling, the critical heritage of selective tradition, the modulator of media influence, and the melting pot of common culture. Finally, the democratic ideal of common culture could be accomplished with the popularization of education, and it should become the aim of educational activity at the same time. Keywords: cultural theory, cultural studies, hegemony, structure of feeling, common culture