"The most important Marxist cultural theorist after Gramsci, Williams' contributions go well beyond the critical tradition, supplying insights of great significance for cultural sociology today... I have never read Williams without finding something worthwhile, something subtle, some idea of great importance"
- Jeffrey C. Alexander, Professor of Sociology, Yale University

Celebrating the significant intellectual legacy and enduring influence of Raymond Williams, this exciting collection introduces a whole new generation to his work.

Jim McGuigan reasserts and rebalances Williams' reputation within the social sciences by collecting and introducing key pieces of his work. Providing context and clarity he powerfully evokes the major contribution Williams has made to sociology, media and communication and cultural studies.

Powerfully asserting the on-going relevance of Williams within our contemporary neoliberal and digital age, the book:

• Includes texts which have never been anthologised before
• Situates Williams' work both biographically and historically
• Provides a comprehensive introduction to Williams' social-scientific work
• Demonstrates the enduring relevance of cultural materialism.

Original and persuasive this book will be of interest to anyone involved in theoretical and methodological modules within sociology, media and communication studies and cultural studies.

About the Author
Jim McGuigan is a freelance researcher, writer and artist. He is also Emeritus Professor of Cultural Analysis at Loughborough University UK. Previously, he taught at Coventry, Leeds, Leeds Trinity, Open and Wolverhampton Universities. He was a research officer at the Arts Council of GB and a script editor in the BBC TV Drama (Plays) Department. He has been a visiting scholar at, amongst others, the Universities of Bergen, Canberra, Canterbury (Christchurch NZ), Catalonia, Copenhagen, Eastern Finland, Izmir, Jyvaskyla, Rostock and at IFK Vienna. He has delivered keynote addresses at conferences and guest lectures in Australia, Austria, Canada, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Israel/Palestine, Norway as well as at various universities in Britain and elsewhere. He has, for instance, served on the Art and Humanities Research Council and the European Commission. Jim's main academic interests are in social theory, cultural studies and policy. He has published in many book collections and journals, including Cultural Studies, European Journal of Cultural Studies, International Journal of Cultural Policy, Keywords, New Left Review, New Statesman, Social Semiotics, Sociological Review and Sociology. His books include Cultural Populism (1992), Culture and the Public Sphere (1996), Cultural Methodologies (1997), Modernity and Postmodern Culture (1999, 2006), Rethinking Cultural Policy (2004), Cool Capitalism (2009), Cultural Analysis (2010), Raymond Williams on Culture and Society (2014), A Short Counter-Revolution - Raymond Williams's Towards 2000 Revisited (2015) and Neoliberal Culture (2016). He is currently working on a book about Raymond Williams.

Reviews
Commentary on Raymond Williams tends to stress either his role in the formation of the British New Left or his intellectual status as a literary and cultural critic or his significance as a distinctively Welsh writer. The cumulative effect of McGuigan's closely argued introduction and carefully chosen set of extracts is to mount a powerful case for a surprisingly original addition to this repertoire: that of Williams as a major sociological thinker in his own right.
-- Andrew Milner
The most important Marxist cultural theorist after Gramsci, Williams' contributions go well beyond the critical tradition, supplying significant insights for cultural sociology today. The structure of feeling, drama in a dramatized society, advertising as magic - these are fundamental ideas. I have never read Williams without finding something worthwhile, something subtle, some idea of great importance. -- Jeffrey C. Alexander



Book Information
ISBN 9781849207713
Author Jim McGuigan
Format Paperback
Page Count 368
Imprint Sage Publications Ltd
Publisher Sage Publications Ltd
Weight(grams) 560g