Williams "Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society"

Question 1

What are the three broad uses of the word culture according to Williams?

Answer 1

• Noun describing a general process of intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic development since the 18th century
• Noun indicating a particular way of life
• Noun describing works and practices of intellectual and artistic activity

Question 2

What has Herder changed in the thinking about culture according to Williams?

Answer 2

He was the beginning of thinking about cultures in the plural. Specific and variable to nations, social groups within nations and different time periods.

It’s not a unilinear process that leads to the high of the 18th century European culture.