E. P. Thompson and the Superstructural Drift in Postwar British Marxism

Zhi Liu

doi:10.47297/wspctWSP2515-470205.20250901

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E. P. Thompson and the Superstructural Drift in Postwar British Marxism

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E. P. Thompson and the Superstructural Drift in Postwar British Marxism
E. P. Thompson and the Superstructural Drift in Postwar British Marxism
School of Liberal Arts, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
2025年9卷第1期页码：39-46
纸质出版：2025-05-29
DOI：10.47297/wspctWSP2515-470205.20250901
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(2025). E. P. Thompson and the Superstructural Drift in Postwar British Marxism. 批评理论（英文版）, 9(1), 39-46.

Zhi Liu.E. P. Thompson and the Superstructural Drift in Postwar British Marxism[J].Critical Theory,2025,09(01):39-46.
(2025). E. P. Thompson and the Superstructural Drift in Postwar British Marxism. 批评理论（英文版）, 9(1), 39-46. DOI： 10.47297/wspctWSP2515-470205.20250901.

Zhi Liu.E. P. Thompson and the Superstructural Drift in Postwar British Marxism[J].Critical Theory,2025,09(01):39-46. DOI： 10.47297/wspctWSP2515-470205.20250901.

摘要

Abstract

It is commonly assumed that Gramsci's influence on British Marxism became significant only after the 1970s

particularly in how his work transcended the traditional zero-sum conception of ideological struggle by emphasizing the dynamic interplay between ruling-class and popular ideologies—a perspective that later informed cultural studies. However

this view

often retrospectively constructed from the standpoint of cultural studies

overlooks the broader trajectory of postwar British Marxism. The engagement between Gramscian theory and British Marxism was in fact a process of mutual attraction

beginning no later than the 1960s

as exemplified by E. P. Thompson's work. Building on his reading of Gramsci's class theory

Thompson sought to move beyond economistic narratives of class by foregrounding class subjectivity. Yet

due to his inattention to Marxist theories of the state

this anti-economistic turn led to a misreading of Gramsci and ultimately reinforced the tendency within British Marxism to privilege superstructural analysis.

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references

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