Relativism and reaction

Richard Hoggart and conservatism

Charlie Ellis

pp. 198-212

in: Sue Owen (ed), Richard Hoggart and cultural studies, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008

Abstract

In the various accounts of the evolution of British Cultural Studies, Hoggart tends to be portrayed as a seminal but outdated figure, from whose nostalgic cultural vision the subject has since wisely escaped. Such an allegation is not unsupported by Hoggart's recent 'sociocultural" writings (Corner, 1991, 138), and in debates on topics such as broadcasting, higher education and the state of the English language, Hoggart tends to be found among those bemoaning "dumbing-down" (Hoggart, 2004a, 132–138) and defending "traditional values' (Bennett, 2001). One reviewer characterised his Mass Media in a Mass Society as a "jeremiad" containing "a litany of Victor Meldrew style gripes' (Kelly, 2004), while Keith Miller has argued that Hoggart's "ranting hostility towards relativism and anti-elitism" revealed him to be a deeply conservative figure, "livid with nostalgia" (Miller, 2004). Indeed, reading Hoggart's The Way We Live Now in the context of recent works of conservative social criticism, one cannot but note a number of linkages (see, for example, Hitchens, 2000; O"Hear, 1996; Phillips, 1996; Scruton, 1996). Hoggart shares with them a belief that Britain has suffered a social and (especially) cultural decline and cites similar symptoms.

Cited authors

Hoggart Richard