During a discussion about the possible meanings of cultural democracy Sophie Hope raised the concept of structures of feeling that Raymond Williams had developed.
In this episode we examine this concept in more detail.
EPISODE 86 | MAY 1 | 2026
Sophie Hope and Owen Kelly
Owen Kelly and Sophie Hope dig out their copies of Marxism & Literature and discuss the cultural theory that Raymond Williams develops there. They reflect on Williams’ insistence on keeping in mind that we live our lives as processes, and that cultural theory needs to avoid turning these into finished products that we can dissect at our leisure.
We examine some of the things that this might mean in practice, and what all this might mean for anyone interested in exploring ideas like cultural democracy.
This continues an argument that we have been developing over the last few episodes and the argument will conclude in the next episode, when all the threads (cultural democracy as process, the subtle perils of AI, and the structure of feelings) will come together into a total something that will appear (slightly) greater than the sum of its parts.
Note
The file uploaded on May 1 had some serious audio glitches. Apologies. We uploaded a repaired file on Saturday May 2. Please enjoy this one!
Oxford Reference online https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100538488
Sean Matthews on Structure & Feeling https://www.academia.edu/1196858/Change_and_theory_in_Raymond_Williamss_Structure_of_Feeling_2001_
