Cultural Materialism: WTF? Raymond Williams, Culture and Structures of Feeling

In this month's episode of What the Theory?, we're looking at Cultural Materialism, an approach to understanding culture developed by Raymond Williams. Foundational to cultural studies, cultural materialism (a close relation to new historicism), draws influence from both Marxist Literary Criticism and Liberal Humanism in order to develop a "sociology of culture".
We'll be taking a look at "structures of feeling" including dominant, residual and emergent ideologies as well as an important work in cultural materialism, Political Shakespeare: Essays in Cultural Materialism.
Finally, I put all of this into practice is undertaking a cultural materialist analysis of 2014's The Lego Movie with a particular consideration of how the film handles discourses of creativity under neoliberal capitalism.
Further Reading
Culture and Materialism by Raymond Williams
US: amzn.to/2UdU7jz
UK: amzn.to/2NCvR8z
Political Shakespeare by Jonathan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield
US: amzn.to/2EJ3vXr
UK: amzn.to/2SxLQpf
After Raymond Williams: Cultural Materialism and the Break-up of Britain by Hywel Dix
US: amzn.to/2HgH5hV
UK: amzn.to/2T8BMbf
[The above are affiliate links. I receive a small kickback from anything you buy which, in turn, helps to support the channel.]
If you've enjoyed this video and would like to see more including my What The Theory? series in which I provide some snappy introductions to key theories in the humanities as well as PhD vlogs in which I talk about some of the challenges of being a PhD student then do consider subscribing.
Thanks for watching!
Twitter: @Tom_Nicholas
Website: www.tomnicholas.com

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Thanks for watching all, I've wanted to make a video on Cultural Materialism for a little while now so it was nice to finally get round to it! Would love to hear any alternative takes on The Lego Movie...

[@teacher-samtapp151]

Are you doing one on new historicism please, Tom? Enjoying them.

[@dwc1964]

Very late to the party, but hopefully worth it: I was confused by the title of this video at first because I'd read, for a Cultural Anthropology class long ago, a book titled _Cultural Materialism_ by Marvin Harris. What I was struck by, watching this video, is how both authors, talking about very different subjects, take pains to distinguish their brand of materialism from Marxism - and how both of them appear to be responding to the sort of "vulgar Marxism" that Marx himself had occasion to denounce while he was still alive. Both of these authors seem to have been reacting to someone else's presentation of what "Marxism" is, rather than understanding Marx's dialectical approach.

[@carolinenavarro6497]

I'm doing a Masters and Culture and Communication and suddenly I find myself watching a video from a young gentleman speaking so well about deep and abstract subjects like that, such as my professors! Youth and technology together have so much to contribute! Thank you for sharing and I hope you continue evolving and participating ! Greetings from Brazil!

[@pietr0xx]

Ariano Suassuna 😀👍

[@ceciv9309]

lol I’m in the first year of bachelors in communication science at UBA and I have already seen this :p uba it’s quite hardcore tho

[@rafaelrp07]

Well, I'm brazilian too...and not only the content, but the accent is very good lol!

[@valezkaanwar2869]

i swear i just shuffled through thousands of literature about structures of feeling for hours on end and couldnt understand ANYTHING. i watch like 7 minutes of this video and feel like i understood what those pretentious academics didn't want me to understand by using their pretentious language 😭

[@denverdean2663]

omfg right????? i feel like our professors intentionally make it hard for us to understand their material to feel good about themselves. but hey, thats just me.

[@rebeccak2067]

I can't believe your videos aren't more popular they're very well done and helpful!! Thanks, just know you're appreciated

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Thank you Rebecca, I really appreciate you saying so!

[@samhitaatrey]

For the last couple of days, I had been grappling with my textbook to learn about Raymond Williams, failing quite miserably. Watching your video gave me, I think, a wholesome view of his theories as an ignorant undergrad trying to make sense of media and cultural studies. I have an exam in two days and I think I'll be able to get 5-10 marks at least because of you. Thanks! And do keep making more videos.

[@Pinl5349]

Thank you for posting these videos. I feel that your channel fills a void and gives some much needed balance to KZbin and probably even the internet in general. Happy Holidays!

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Cheers Nola, glad you’ve found some of my videos interesting, always makes it worthwhile when people take the time to say so! And happy holidays to you too!

[@mestery.j378]

You're an incredibly genius who knows how to explain complex ideas in a manageable manner 👏

[@JayDub4321]

I usually don't subscribe to someone until I've seen like 5 or 6 videos that I really loved, and I just subscribed today. Dude, PLEASE don't stop!

[@RD-vi7ro]

What a breath of fresh air! I was looking for something contemporary and clear for my Cultural Studies students in Buenos Aires! This is marvellous! Well done Tom! Keep it up! You are a natural!

[@joshuaedward7058]

i watched this 4 times ( whole ) re-watching made it easier to follow and i can now say i can understand the two arguments. This was so helpful and VERY understanding! especially with the Lego movie! off to doing my assignment in sociology now !

[@meinan5565]

Thank you Tom for the amazing videos. I am actually presenting on an article using the structures of feelings to analyze Hong Kong independent cinema next week and this video comes really useful. Thanks again for the good work and I'm looking forward to your next video!

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Thank you Mei, glad you've found the videos helpful! Best of luck with the presentation, I'm sure you'll ace it!

[@oliviacampos8819]

Thank you so much for your videos! I wish someday I can talk about these subjects as eloquently as you do. Your content only makes me want to learn more and more!! 🥰

[@isabeldurocher2268]

This is a super helpful, clear, concise and coherent presentation on cultural materialism. Thank you so much!

[@ciaraallen2125]

Hi Tom, just wondering if I am missing the New Historicism video? Can't see it. Thanks.

[@religionwithjohn]

I'm starting my first undergrad research project, and structures of feeling are very important to how I'm framing the work. This helped to learn about structure of feeling and the theory that it is the telos of.

[@aruishere0123]

One of the best videos I have ever watched on Theory. More power to you.

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Ahh, thank you for saying so Arunava, I couldn’t ask for more praise than that!

[@aruishere0123]

@@Tom_Nicholas Could you please an elaborate video on Post structuralism Vis-a-vis Authorial intent?

[@moulishree6428]

The best thing about your videos are your explicit examples.

[@danielbrissenden2555]

Great stuff. I hope you are still active in sharing these great ideas! I know not if you are speaking exemporaneously, or if you began with a script. And that is a mark of an excellent teacher.

[@Anna-sy9ns]

Thanks for a great video! I have been working my way through your What The Theory playlist. An an architectural history PhD candidate, various theories and philosophers are continually referenced but I've struggled to find an efficient way to wrap my head around them. Your explanations are really helping!

[@MehdiGhassemi]

I'll ask all my students to subscribe to your channel. Keep up the fantastic work. Well done!

[@gemmabonham959]

Thank Goodness! Finding such a clear and well delivered video to help me get my mind around cultural theory. Thank you.

[@orcasmicyt6423]

lego movie shifts my focus😂

[@affordablecareactof]

Lmfao

[@red2theelectricboogaloo961]

a man has fallen in the river in lego city hey,

[@weezaputz]

I'm glad KZbin algorithm brought me here. This is quality content! 💜💜💜

[@leena3161]

Amazing video as always Tom... And your examples are perfect👌

[@teresa6821]

Thank you for the great video, it helped me a lot because i couldn't uderstand this conception during the class and this confused me a very long time...

[@alisonc5]

This was such a great video! I’d only studied cultural materialism reading Marvin Harris so it was great to learn more about other applications/authors

[@honeybeavergara6963]

Greetings from Orlando, Florida! I recently discovered your channel. Really enjoying the videos so far. Keep it up! I am also currently studying social sciences.

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Glad you're enjoying the videos! Hope they've been helpful!

[@peluisbraga]

That was a very great synthesis to the cultural materialism! Thank you! (I'm Brazilian so sorry for the not-so-good English)

[@ayouxy]

Love it or hate it, you have been linked by my professor

[@shanqinggao2854]

OMG thank you so much this is really helpful! I looked through your channel but I didn't find the video about new historicism that you said you will (probably) make haha, I would really look forward to watch that if you are still planning on doing it!

[@carolinavazquez5874]

Thank you so much for this content. It was so useful to understand the structure of feeling.

[@elizabeth586]

Thank you so much for this! I have been studying for my exam and with this video, Cultural Materialism is crisp and clear! Your videos in general are extremely useful! Def subscribing

[@laurasasso8798]

Wow. Your videos are so refreshing! Thank you!

[@TuesMagique]

Hi there! I am applying for a Cultural Studies program and your video is so helpful and informative plus I love your accent!!! Keep it up! Thanks for sharing;)

[@luckywolf12aj9]

the analysis with the lego movie is very well done! I have a presentation to do on cultural materialism and this has been quite helpful thank you! :)

[@gonzogil123]

3:05min As a political-economist with a liberal arts degree I would begin with easy cases such as Gobbel, or, European literature before the Holocaust (see New Left Review March/April 2010) "In Defense Of Israel" and "Reply To Sternhell". Also, incorporate contemporary analysis like "Soft Power" by Joseph Nye. Then I would move onto if the, novel, for example, was done under the logic of capitalist accumulation: M-C-M´ circuit. The logic of the production of the text dependent mainly upon its profitability, or, if it was done in less capitalistic alienated modes of labor: where the other receives most of the surplus.

[@taceitac]

this is extremely helpful and it's a joy to watch someone as passionate as you are do good work, so thank you!

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Thank you for saying so, glad you found it helpful!

[@DanielOliveiraCarvallho]

Incredible video. Really nice, and the way you explain things is really awesome. I'm glad to watch your channel. Greetings from Brazil!

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Thanks Daniel, really glad you found it helpful!

[@gonzogil123]

9:29min As someone who reads literature more than watching the committedly lagging from the standards outputs of the Pentagon-Capital as media I have asked myself that question. I have mainly thanks to Harold Bloom. The latter has a substantive degree of appreciation for him. It is justified. He makes some interesting claims about the extent of the influence of Shakespeare. They are impressive in what it implies in concrete terms regarding the means we use to understand ourselves. I wondered whether that impact was related to the level of Feudal censorship at the time, and the net levels of investment in literacy. I think the work is great. But it is a very historically legit question to ask if one is able to detect the tension of censorship within Shakespare´s and other´s works of the time.

[@Thaheadband33]

Hey Tom - if you are up for a video suggestion, I have one. Part of me really enjoys reading. I like learning new things, engaging with new ideas, etc. But I often feel like I end up forgetting a large chunk of what I read, which can then take away some of the desire I have to read more. I sometimes come away feeling like I spent a lot of time reading something that I’m going to end up forgetting very soon. Is this relatable at all? Do you have any tips or tricks to deal with it? Thanks!

[@Tom_Nicholas]

I totally feel this a lot of the time. I often find taking notes while I read helps me to “actively” read a little bit more as I have to process the information to turn it into notes. This also means that I have a decent summary of whatever I’ve read (usually mostly made up of quotations) for the future. The downside is that it obviously means that everything takes a lot longer to read and therefore it can be a bit off putting to actually do so. I’ll think about putting something together on this. Not entirely sure what angle I’ll take but a really great idea, cheers!

[@solomon1405]

​@@Tom_Nicholas would love to see that.

[@infernocop1009]

well, to paraphrase some guy, "I may not remember every word of every book I've read, but they made me who I am"

[@josuemunoz97]

Thank you for this explanation. I have an essay due and your video is helping me write it

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Really glad to have helped out, best of luck with the essay!

[@fluxus_tr]

I dont know if im old school but I like to look at you while you talk but the screen in the background is super distracting! Great videos though thank you

[@ANTIMONcom]

So this debate is about if Narnia is meant to be read as i did me reading as a kid, not knowing about the Lion/Jesus refference, or if all the reader should keep the Christian faith in mind while reading?

[@aarondavidport]

Great video. What are some good examples of more contemporary approaches or responses to cultural materialism?

[@Shioriichann]

Thank you for explaining so much in a simpler term in this vdeo. It helps me understand this theory better for my assignment. Just a question, have you ever thought about discussing E.P Thompson's approach to culture? Both Raymond Williams and E.P Thompson shares the same Marxism values a bit when explaining the culture.

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Glad the video helped! I am very much hoping to look at some of E.P. Thompson's work in the future. As you say, there is much in common between Williams and Thompson as both come from very similar British, Marxist schools of thought.

[@gawful44]

Thanks for your work! Much needed.

[@ProfWattsU]

We were promised a New Historicism video!

[@Delinae]

Thanks for this video, especially the breakdown of how structures of feeling relate to ideologies. I'm curious whether you think poststructuralism changes our evaluation of the merits of cultural materialism? Ie. poststructuralism would evaluate Marxist approaches as too structuralist.

[@vedikavinaik9897]

Thank You!

[@diannetapalla1645]

This was a great explanation. Thank youu

[@Wiggyam]

Great video, only issue is that the audio is really low so its hard to hear anything

[@dr.manishkumar649]

U explained it in depth n very well. Thanks.

[@laszloboruzs7755]

Another great video, thanks. However, one question is Cultural Materialism part of the discipline of philosophy or is it Anthropology? and Why? Thanks :)

[@mithinginaction]

You never made that video on New Historicism ;)

[@wiktoriaohotski9130]

Great video mate! One question, if you had to go against to this idea, what argument would you provide? I mean overall, what Williams is trying to indicate that every text should be examined because it is an effective contribution on the dominant culture we live in. Just trying to think of opposing ideas

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Hiya, thanks! I'm not entirely sure wha you mean by going against this idea. Do you mean argue that culture is entirely separate from material/economic/political constraints? You'd probably want to look at the ideas of some of the Liberal Humanist theorists who were around before Williams.

[@aclark903]

@@Tom_Nicholas #NorthropFrye for instance.

[@MaRiLeNa596]

Hi! I find your videos immensely interesting! I am an undergraduate philosophy student from Greece and recently I found out about cultural studies and all these theories. I find them extremely interesting and I was thinking of doing a postgraduate degree on cultural studies but I am not yet sure where could that degree be useful to me as a job. If you could enlighten me I would be grateful!

[@umbravulgaris]

Hi Tom! Unrelated to the content, but you mention being 25. I'm 24 and applying to masters programs (Geography) in the US; have been told it'll take 6+ years to get the M.A. and Ph.D. Does the UK have a much quicker system or did you skip a bunch of grades as a kid?

[@stemmanuela9677]

Can you explain about realism and the contemporary novel

[@matiasianlastra4699]

Great channel! Ever considered doing a video covering something from Foucault?

[@matheusant3715]

Amazing video. Thanks!!!

[@kaimustakoski5559]

Splendid video! Thanks!

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Thanks for saying so Kai!

[@larissacald]

Your videos are amazing! Thank you for sharing

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Thank you Larissa, really appreciate you saying so!

[@MariaCosta-cq7ys]

Thank you so much

[@nikheeliyer9674]

Please add English subtitle in your video (cultural materialism) because I’m hard of hearing person.

[@elizabethmunoz6941]

I know it's already been a year, but if it helps you can open the transcript. You can access it by clicking on the three dots to the right of the "Save" link. (You might know this by now, but just in case :)

[@sharifah7109]

@@elizabethmunoz6941 thankyouu!!

[@frechjo]

Good video, but no Marvin Harris? When I think Cultural Materialism, that's the only name that comes to my mind. Maybe it's just an artifact of how little I studied the topic. I get the feeling his take on the theory is a bit different than what was presented here.

[@annest7694]

Hey, loved the video, I'm binging your post colonialism content but just a small thing to say, please don't play videos behind you if you want to, it's really hard for me to focus and I'm sure that was a concern for other people too. It's fine if you don't want to, it's your video, but it would help me, personally, a lot in the future.

[@alfredtetzlaff574]

Bvery good video thanks

[@up2010]

Great video 👍

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Thanks Umar, appreciate you saying so!

[@HindiLegendaryWriters]

Could you suggest scholarship on "structures of feeling" ?

[@ajsketches8483]

Nice Lego Movie tie in

[@rosemarymcbride3419]

BRB watching the second LEGO movie with my cultural materialism googles on

[@ladymorwendaebrethil-feani4031]

I remembered EP Thompson.

[@AhmedTheGass]

It could be interesting if you make a video about Cultural Colonialism

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Hiya Ahmed, I did make a video which looked fairly broadly at Colonialism which you can find in the What the Theory? playlist on my channel page. Was that the kind of thing you were after?

[@AhmedTheGass]

​@@Tom_Nicholas Well, i don't know, but i think that i made a mistake while writing the comment. Im looking for an explanation of Ethnic and Race theories. As well as their definitions and the differences between them alongside the term of Culture.

[@feelidraws]

thank you very much for this

[@Tom_Nicholas]

No worries, hope you found it helpful!

[@ravis6534]

Thanks.. please make video on Biopolitics

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Hi Raviraj, thanks for the suggestion. Biopolitics might be a little way out of my area of knowledge but it's definitely something I'll have a look in to and think about making a video about!

[@yabyum108]

Good stuff :-)

[@chrisrosenkreuz23]

as a kid, I LOVED LEGOs but I never understood the appeal for any sort of Lego media, I felt it defeated the purpose. Only thing tto make it worse would be stop motion. Oh wait

[@LogicGated]

Haha Lego movie in the background.

[@c0smosus]

Just wondering are you tommyinnit, do you know/support Dreamnotfound Also can i get whitelisted on the dreamsmp

[@donnejone1790]

Great!

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Thanks!

[@jock364]

Shades of Thomas Khun!

[@0hate9]

Anyone else misread the title as being about Cultural Marxism? I was very confused for the first bit of the video.

[@ItsMrE.K.]

where is our new historicism video

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Ah, sorry! This was something I was totally planning on making and then never got round to. I'll definitely try and squeeze it in over the next few months!!

[@ruveydakaradag9605]

@@Tom_Nicholas We are still awaiting your marvellous explanation on New Historicisim xD

[@itsme-jj7zk]

what's your favourite food?

[@sameralrefaai4532]

what is the literary political theory ?

[@mrunseen3797]

So somebody heard the term cultural materialism, heard it has something to do with Marxism...and coined the non-sense term cultural Marxism? (Might be a silly question, just wonder where "cultural Marxism" comes from)

[@frechjo]

I don't think so. "Cultural Marxism" seems to be a synthesis of different things, but I don't think cultural materialism plays any significant role. There's the related nazi conspiracy theories, which come under different names. "Jewish Bolshevism", "International Jewry", and things like that; those certainly feed into the current "Cultural Marxism" one. Then there's the School of Frankfurt, with it's Critical Theory, also finding its way into the conspiracy as an imagined center player of some sort. There's also the Cold War influence, with the Red Scare serving as an easy way to demonize counter-cultural movements, political resistance, civil rights activism, feminism, etc. And of course, the "culture war" mentality, is the base on which it's all built upon.

[@mallikasharma5644]

why all the super heros use mask and hide their original identity and adopt new one ? is this also related to cultural materialism ? what is ur prespective ?

[@urbanwarchief]

Employers dont pay me enough to buy cultural items

[@14peku]

GUAPIII🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵

[@B_Estes_Undegöetz]

Thanks for going into the work of a guy that seems somewhat quaint and dated for a Marxist nowadays. From the perspective of the 2020s it seems like I shouldn’t have to yank Williams by the Marxist lapels and say … “hey … what part of ‘commodity fetish’ did you miss in Marx 101? You understand the power of capitalism intellectually to colonize even ‘revolutionary’ cultural politics and tame it and turn it into just another commodity for sale within the capitalist ideological economic system? Surely you can see how that’s already happening to art right in front of you ahem … Andy Warhol … ahem … Robert Mapplethorpe … “ but I guess it was lost on him. He still believed in the liberal agenda of the “free individual” who creates art into a space like artisans of old that then move culture forward sort of idealistically separate from the materialist culture that produced them. Silly man. The power of capitalism with networked computers should have been possible to imagine for him when writing this book. Oh well … a material and cultural artifact of its time. Proved the age old Marxist truism that revolutionary theory is the only way forward for a revolutionary society. The rebel who seeks consiliation and cooperation with the capitalist past just ends up consumed by the capitalist past himself.

[@TheCallumTR]

You look a lot like Shaun Murphy.

[@UR.Cristiano.Clips7]

مين شافطك بمكنسة

[@dsmith1723]

Lord business represents communism not capitalism

[@JH-wg2dc]

I swear I read "Cultural Marxism" instead.

[@mammi7699]

Video is super quiet😥👎

[@ayahsdiaries1]

You just saved my life in 17mins 🥹🫶🏻🫶🏻