Richard Hoggart (1918 - )
Related: CCCS - Cultural Studies
Richard Hoggart becomes the first director of the CCCS, his inaugural lecture being in 1963.
The Uses of Literacy (1957) - Richard Hoggart [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Biography
Richard Hoggart (born September 24, 1918) is a British sociologist, widely known for his 1957 book The Uses of Literacy.
He was founder of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham in 1964. He was also Assistant Director-General of UNESCO (1971-1975) and Warden of Goldsmiths College, University of London (1976-1984).
He was born in Leeds and educated at Cockburn High School and the University of Leeds. He served with the Royal Artillery during World War II, and was demobilised as a Staff Captain. He was then appointed Staff Tutor at the University of Hull, 1946-1959, Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Leicester, 1959-1962, and Professor of English at Birmingham University, 1962-1973. During his Professorship, he was also Director of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, 1964-1973. Hoggart was a member of numerous organisations, including the Albermarle Committee on Youth Services, 1958-1960; the Pilkington Committee on Broadcasting, 1960-1962; the Arts Council of Great Britain, 1976-1981; and the Statesman and Nation Publishing Company Ltd, 1977-1981. He was also Chairman of the Advisory Council for Adult and Continuing Education, 1977-1983, and the Broadcasting Research Unit, 1981-1991, as well as a Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 1962-1988. He was an expert witness at the 1960 Lady Chatterley trial.
He has two sons, political journalist Simon Hoggart and television critic Paul Hoggart. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hoggart [Aug 2005]
Profile
Richard Hoggart was born in Leeds in 1918. Educated at Cockburn High School and the University of Leeds he served in the British Army during the Second World War.
In 1946 he became a tutor at the University of Hull. Later he lectured in English at the University of Leicester and the University of Birmingham. In 1964 he established the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at Birmingham.
Books by Hoggart included W. H. Auden (1951), The Uses of Literacy: Aspects of Working Class Life (1957), The Critical Movement (1964), Speaking to Each Other (1970), Only Connect (1972), Speaking to Each Other (1973), An Idea and Its Servants: UNESCO from Within (1978), An English Temper (1982), An Idea of Europe (1987), A Local Habitation: Life and Times 1918-40 (1989), An Imagined Life: Life and Times 1959-91 (1992), A Measured Life (1994), First and Last Things (2001) and Everyday Language and Everyday Life (2003).
Hoggart was replaced by Stuart Hall as director of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies in 1968. ]
Cultural Studies [...]
Students of the British tradition of cultural studies generally seem to credit Richard Hoggart with 'founding' the movement. His book The Uses of Literacy (1958) broadens the applicatiion of literary studies to take in newspapers, magazines, popular music and so on. Moreover, he examines the interconnexions between these and the structures of individuals' everyday lives. In this respect he shows popular culture to be worthy of more serious attention than, say, other literary critics such as the Leavises (see the section on literary criticism) were prepared to allow. To an extent, this no doubt reflects his own working class background, which is indeed very much to the fore in his book. Nevertheless, while favourably disposed to pre-war popular culture, which he sees as forming an organic whole, he - not unlike the Leavises - ultimately condemns the post-war 'mass' culture, which he considers trivial and subversive of the authenticity of working class culture.The Uses of Literacy made Hoggart a highly influential commentator on British culture and the media. Hoggart's focus on working class culture and the interconnectedness of its experience had a significant influence on the further development of cultural studies. He also founded the highly influential CCCS. --http://www.sociologyonline.co.uk/post_essays/PopHall.htm [Jul 2004]
The Uses of Literacy (1957) - Richard Hoggart
The Uses of Literacy (1957) - Richard Hoggart [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Book above contains chapter on sex and violence novels.
He was founder of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham in 1964.
Richard Hoggart (born September 24, 1918) is a British sociologist, widely known for his 1957 book The Uses of Literacy.
During his Professorship at Birmingham University, he was also Director of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, 1964-1973.
He was an expert witness at the 1960 Lady Chatterley trial.
see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hoggart [Aug 2005]
see also: literacy - literature - cultural studies
your Amazon recommendations