Antonio Gramsci on Hegemony

Antonio Gramsci on Hegemony

Introduction

Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) was a famous Italian thinker belonging to the Marxist school of thought. He provided for advanced and sophisticated theory concerning the realm of politics and how it relates to the basic socio economic conditions of the world, which is his greatest achievement. Unlike Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels he moved a step forward with the idea that capital alienates the working class and induces crisis; rather like Althusser he dismissed the notions of economism while insisting that economic determinism cannot control ideology (Calhoun et al, 2012). In simple terms, Antonio Gtramsci offered a view of Marxism which was entirely focused on human subjectivity and revolutionary change.

Discussion

The notions of hegemony was therefore introduced by Gramsci can be used to explain 'bourgeois hegemony'; the dominance of one class over another which can be further explained by the theory of how the working class has to band together in political terms in order to deal with the crisis of capital to initiate change which can be labeled as evolutionary. This idea of hegemony therefore denotes economic and political control which is controlled by the dominant class who have the power to 'normalize' their view points. As cited by Nowell Smith, the ideal of common sense is the way the lesser classes live out compelling subordination (Calhoun et al, 2012).

However, many scholars also describe hegemony as a philosophy which is often used to illustrate the way the capital class controls the subordinate classes to exercise their domination by influencing the different institutions which have power over our thoughts and common sense. However, as the authors Calhoun et al (2012) put it, there are no philosophies, only philosophers and ideas which have to be accepted and believed in by people who are affected by it (Calhoun ...