Abstract:  Combing the formation of British working class,E.P.Thompson criticized the definition of “culture” by Raymond Williams,thus enriched the multiple aspects of the definition of “culture”.The new left wing of the second generation,represented by Perry Anderson,actively sought theoretical resources from the continent,so it caused a series of significant debates with cultural Marxism in Britain.The “cultural controversy” in early British Cultural Studies not only deviated from the narrow and conservative “cultural” concept of Leavisism,enlarged the connotation of “culture” to cover daily experience,but also regarded “culture” as a resistant potential of drastic political carrier.Likely,the debate between humanistic Marxism and constructive Marxism,and that between “experience” and “theory”,not only led to the internal paradigm transition,but also opened a window to clarify the theoretical systems in British Cultural Studies.

Key words: E.P.Thompson, social historiography, cultural Marxism, constructive Marxism, paradigm transition