Hoggart, Richard

British sociologist and literary critic, a founder of cultural studies

(Extrait) [ENG] Richard Hoggart à propos de la culture

Artesquieu · Jun 9, 2022 · partial coverage

Coverage note: full (a very short extract of about thirty seconds; the transcript is clear)

Core ideas

Culture is not only "high culture". Hoggart starts by noting that most people hear the word "culture" and think of opera, classical music and highbrow books. That, he says, is not the sense in which he uses it.

Culture as the everyday expression of a society's values. For him, culture is found in how we walk, how we gesture, the way he is speaking at that very moment with his voice rising and falling, and the way young people dress today. All of these are "heavy", "pregnant" and imbued with the values and attitudes of a society.

What cultural studies does. The task of cultural studies, as he defines it, is to take hold of these everyday forms and interpret them, reading the values and attitudes of a society in its ordinary behaviours rather than only in its canonical works.

Excerpts

“Most people when they hear the word culture have a vague notion... Opera and classical music.”

“The way we walk, the way we gesture, the way I'm talking to you now.”

“It's getting hold of that and interpreting them that I mean by cultural studies.”