Raymond Williams helped to establish the field of cultural sociology with "Marxism and Literature" and "Culture and Society." Continuing the work of those studies, "The Sociology of Culture" offers debate on the origin and evolution of culture. It defines sociology of culture as a convergence of various fields and explores ways in which culture is socially mediated. "A historical analysis of the social organization of culture in terms of its institutions and formations. Insisting that the term sociology of culture implies a convergence of interests and methods, Williams draws from a broad range of examples: Greek drama, Celtic bards, the Pre-Raphaelites, Bloomsbury and modern copyright laws, among others."--"Library Journal" Raymond Williams (1921-87) was professor of drama at Cambridge University. His many books include "Marxism and Literature, Keywords, Country and the City," and "Culture and Society."

Acknowledged as perhaps the masterpiece of materialist criticism in the English language, this omnibus ranges over British literary history from George Eliot to George Orwell to inquire about the complex ways economic reality shapes the imagination.

本书是二十世纪探讨悲剧理念和悲剧思想的最重要著作。雷蒙·威廉斯从分析古典悲剧经验与传统及其在当代的延续入手，通过分析易卜生、奥尼尔、贝克特、加缪、萨特、布莱希特等人的剧作，在悲剧与现代社会、革命、无序及个体的关系中，揭示了现代悲剧经验新的特质，以及其中所反映的现代时代的根本信仰与冲突。

《马克思主义与文学》一书正文仅210页左右，却在“导言”之后分别列出“基本概念”、“文化理论”和“文学理论”三个内容宏富而阐述精练的专章。与《文化与社会》相似，威廉斯以四个关键词——文化、语言、文学和意识形态作为文化唯物论的“基本概念”，既展示四个概念所标示的领域的学术史演迁，又揭示理论脉络背后汹涌的历史潮流。在其后的“文化理论”和“文学理论”中，则又以一系列关键词为主干展开逻辑推演。