Williams developed a number of enduring theoretical concepts: he identified a ‘structure of feeling’,

what he described as ‘the area of interaction between the official consciousness of an epoch […] and the
whole process of actually living its consequences’; he insisted upon viewing culture as ‘ordinary’, as
everyday and (potentially at least) democratic, being constantly made and re-made; and he formulated
three forces or tensions within the development of cultural form: the residual (pre-existing and
traditional), the dominant (central and defining), and the emergent (new and challenging). All of these
give a glimpse into his relevance and influence as well as providing a way of analysing and critiquing
cultural transformation, placing a primary focus on culture as, what Williams notably called, ‘a whole
way of life’, something made and lived.