本論文中，我利用雷蒙‧威廉斯的文化唯物論，來分析伊莉莎白‧蓋茲凱爾的第二本「社會問題小說」《北與南》中所呈現出的經濟制度、社會與文化間的關係，並進一步探討蓋茲凱爾對維多利亞時代的社會問題所提出的「解決方案」。 由於《北與南》這本小說的主要焦點在於工業化資本主義規章與生活型態的討論，故一直以來，《北與南》所接受的批評也多屬於社會議題層面，與其相關的解決之道，多數批評家，尤其是馬克斯主義的批評家，多半批評蓋茲凱爾試圖以「資本主義」架構解決當代的經濟與社會問題，但我則認為玆凱爾並非完全認同資本主義文化，而是藉由小說中所呈現出的各種衝突，塑造一種新興文化，=而威廉斯理論中有關「下層結構」與「上層結構」之間，以及殘留、統治、與新興這三種文化間的辦證關係，不僅能讓我門重新衡量經濟、社會與文化間的關係，更提供了閱讀蓋茲凱爾小說的另一種文化觀點。 / In this thesis, I apply Raymond Williams's theory of cultural materialism to analyze the relationships among the economic system, society, and culture presented by Elizabeth Gaskell in her second "social-problem" novel, North and South, and thus to examine Gaskell's "solution" to her contemporary social problems. With its focus on the dominant philosophy of industrial capitalism, North and South has received repeated criticism on several social issues and their related solutions. When most critics, especially the Marxist critics, attack Gaskell's "capitalist" solutions to economic and social problems in her society, I argue that Gaskell actually portrays an emergent culture within various conflicts in her novel. Williams's convepts of dialectical relationship between "the base" and "the super-stucture," and among the residual, the dominant, and the emergent cultures not only help to re-evaluate relations among economy, society, and culture, but also offer a cultural reading of Gaskell's novel.