# New Historicism and Cultural Materialism

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-historicism-and-cultural-materialism/43289>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 30, 2000, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-historicism-and-cultural-materialism/43289 "2000-11-30T01:13:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![KwikStah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47c2d/32.png) [@KwikStah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KwikStah)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-historicism-and-cultural-materialism/43289/1 "2000-11-30T01:13:56Z")

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What’s the difference between these two?

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**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-historicism-and-cultural-materialism/43289/2 "2000-11-30T03:17:36Z")

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In a nutshell:

Cultural materialism – British, heavily Marxist-influenced  
New historicism – American, less Marxist, or at least less dogmatic about it

If I wrote any more, I would end up writing a dissertation, so I shall stop here.