Culture, change, and ‘structures of feeling’

The idea of “structures of feeling” was developed by the cultural theorist Raymond Williams during the 1960s and ‘70s. These days, if he is remembered at all, Williams is remembered for his influential books The Country and the City, Keywords, Television: Technology and Cultural Form, and perhaps a novel such as Border Country. (Photo: Andrew Curry, CC BY-SA-NC 4.0) Williams was a Marxist, and he was interested in how change happens—especially progressive change—and the idea of “structures of feeling” was a way to talk about changes that you could feel or sense before you could quantify them or measure them. My purpose in writing about it here is to link it to the futures literature on emerging issues. In doing this, “structures of feeling” may fill a gap in this futures literature. Williams’ concept is inherently social, yet many of the ways that futurists talk about emerging issues lack this social dimension. The fullest version of his concept that I have found is in his book…