Views Beyond the Border Country

The work of Raymond Williams has inspired radical intellectuals engaged in cultural politics and influenced many academic disciplines across the social sciences and humanities. This book examines the assumptions and limitations of Williams's political vision and commitments. In the spirit of appreciative criticism, this international collection of essays analyzes the neglected yet central tensions in Williams's thought. The contributors explore the implications of his work for a wide range of disciplines including education, cultural studies, history, literature, mass communication, and drama. The first section, "Culture is Ordinary" examines Williams's deconstruction of the false division between what he considers "common culture" and a "whole way of life". The second part, "Education From Below", explores Williams's conception of meaningful democratic participation in cultural institutions such as schools, taking into account the dilemmas that Leftist and feminist educators experience in the varied national and regional contexts of neo-conservatism. The final section is entitled "Culture's Others: Culture or Cultural Imperialism".