A (Liberal) Sheep in (Marxist) Wolf’s Clothing? Reassessing Antonio Gramsci’s Conceptualisation of Hegemony

  1. Pass, Jonathan 1
  1. 1 Universidad Pablo de Olavide, España
Journal:
Daimon: revista internacional de filosofía

ISSN: 1130-0507,  1989-4651

Year of publication: 2019

Issue: 77

Pages: 73-88

Type: Article

DOI: 10.6018/DAIMON/292591 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Daimon: revista internacional de filosofía

Abstract

Antonio Gramsci’s greatest contribution to Western political thought, arguably, is his conceptualisation of hegemony. Sadly, a widespread tendency to misinterpret the term as being analogous to ‘leadership based upon consent’, has reduced power to ideological control: an essentially liberal perspective. This paper aims to rectify this error, carrying out a more comprehensive analysis of Gramsci’s conceptualisation of hegemony as expounded in his Prison Notebooks, set against the backdrop of his own political/intellectual evolution. Hegemony, as a result, is shown to be compatible with Marxist theories of power, i.e. necessarily materially-rooted and underpinned by coercion.

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