Working-class recreation was saturated by popular imperialism rather than autonomous

Evidence

There is no separate, autonomous, “authentic” layer of working-class culture to be found. Much of the most immediate forms of popular recreation, for example, are saturated by popular imperialism. Could we expect otherwise? How could we explain, and what would we do with the idea of, the culture of a dominated class which, despite its complex interior formations and differentiations, stood in a very particular relation to a major restructuring of capital; which itself stood in a peculiar relation to the rest of the world; a people bound by the most complex ties to a changing set of material relations and conditions; who managed somehow to construct “a culture” which remained untouched by the most powerful dominant ideology—popular imperialism? Especially when that ideology—belying its name—was directed as much at them as it was at Britain’s changing position in a world capitalist expansion? — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 997

Categorization

• XREF: Contradicts romantic left readings of an autonomous, authentic working-class culture — resonates with E.P. Thompson’s insistence on class as a relationship, not a thing. — connects to: Capitalist development required the active re-education and moralization of working-class culture; Cultural domination shapes working-class perception without fully occupying the mind; Racially conscious working-class nationalism emerged from English class formation — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 234
• DEEPTHINKING: The rhetorical question forces a hard rethink: a dominated class’s culture was thoroughly penetrated by the very imperialism that dominated them — dense enough to sit with.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 997

Broader Connections

• Cultural domination shapes working-class perception without fully occupying the mind #expands (0.70)
• Racially conscious working-class nationalism emerged from English class formation #qualifies (0.55) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 234