Antonio Gramsci: Power through Ideological Leadership
Dr Christopher Kollmeyer
26 Feb 2008 SO4530
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Note on Readings • The Gramsci Reader Pp. 323-347 (section on culture as common sense) • Deguili and Kollmeyer. 2007. “Bringing Gramsci Back In” Pp. 500-502. http://wes.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/21/3/497
Biographical Notes on Gramsci •Italian (born 1891, died 1937) •University at Turin (Fiat and class conflict) •Co-founder of Italian Communist Party •Jailed by Mussolini in 1926 •Main work: Prison Notebooks
Culture, Ideology, & Early Marxism Karl Marx • Base-Superstructure • Exploitation class consciousness
Friedrich Engels • “False consciousness”
State-Civil Society Distinction in Politics Rule by controlling state politics: How much coercion is needed?
Compromise
Coercion
Hegemony
Domination
(Soft power)
(Hard power)
Rule through Civil Society: How accepted are the ideas of the dominant class?
Very
Hegemony Leadership Common Sense
Not at all
CounterHegemony? Opposition
Key Concepts Restated • The State • Civil Society • Hegemony – State Politics (compromise) – Civil Society (intellectual leadership) “Common Sense”
• Counter-hegemony • War of manoeuvre vs. War of position
Summary Modes of rule according to Gramsci: 1. Ideological leadership (CS hegemony) 2. Compromise (Political hegemony) 3. Coercion (Police-military force) Hegemony re-established daily Significant political change requires new morality