It is no surprise that the most important phrase in this reading, repeated several times, is when Williams states that “culture is ordinary”.  But of course, like most texts we read, we wonder: what does that mean? This means, according to Williams, that “every human has its own shape, its own purposes, its own meanings. Every human society expresses these, in institutions, and in arts and learning” (4). He believes that a culture has two aspects: the known meanings and directions and the new observations and meanings. Therefore, one can deduce that there are things that remain fairly static in a culture (known meaning and directions; tradition for example) and things that are constantly evolving and changing (new observations and meanings). Moreover, he explains the two ways in which culture is defined: a whole way of life and the arts and learning. Although some writers only consider one of these definitions, Williams believes that both are significant. For example, when we consider an individual to be very cultured and well-educated, we are thinking of the arts and learning whereas when we ask someone about their culture or where they are from, we are clearly referring to a whole way of life. The two meanings thus make very much sense depending on the context.

Where things get interesting is when Williams discusses the two senses of culture, mainly because he refuses to recognize them.  First, he explains the distinction being made between cultivated people and ordinary people. He uses his personal experience in a teashop in Cambridge to explain how these “cultured people” attempt to exclude all those who they felt were not cultured on the basis of their trivial differences of behavior or the variations of their speech habits. Williams says although we cannot stop them, we can ignore them (5). Second, he discusses those who are culture-vultures. He refers to these people as highbrows and superior prigs who reject any culture that is not part of the upper class. Evidently, Williams is strongly opposed to this form of exclusion. This is precisely why he believes that culture is ordinary; culture cannot be limited to one group but is rather accessible to everyone. For Williams, culture has not at all grown from the upper class or elite groups but rather from the working class and what he calls “the masses”. His view on culture further implies his support for the working class and his disagreement with Marx’s view that we live in a “dying culture, and that the masses are ignorant …” (8). Williams believes that the way of life of the working class, by its “emphases of neighborhood, mutual obligation, and common betterment …” (8) is in fact the best foundation for the future of English society.

Although what Williams raises is a pertinent question in cultural studies, is an “ordinary” culture truly possible? Or will elitist attitudes always search to produce the distinction between “cultured” and “uncultured” people? The fact of the matter is, William’s idea that culture is ordinary emphasizes and makes clear, whether one wants to recognize it or not, that culture is found in the commonplace and not in the exceptional. Whether or not those of the upper class are willing to come to terms with this is a completely different story.