Abstract
This chapter explores Antonio Gramsci’s theory of hegemony arguing it is a theory of national-popular class politics aimed at illuminating how the achievement of state power and socio-economic transformation can only be secured by mobilising and winning the consent of the masses through a strategy of “national-popular” political and ideological alliance in civil society. I examine three essential aspects of the theory: the conditions of hegemonic struggle conceived as a dynamic field of “relations of force”; the apparatus of hegemony constituted by parties, states, civil society and intellectuals; and the politics of hegemony involving a political and ideological campaign for mass consent among the “national-popular” masses. The chapter demonstrates how Gramsci’s concepts illuminate the success and failures of capitalist and socialist hegemonic strategies. I conclude by suggesting that contemporary interpretations and applications of hegemony in social scientific research need to give greater weight to its holistic, class-based and “national-popular” character.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | The Oxford Handbook of Karl Marx |
| Editors | Matt Vidal, Tomás Rotta, Tony Smith, Paul Prew |
| Place of Publication | Oxford |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Chapter | 20 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780190695545 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - Dec 2018 |
Keywords
- Gramsci
- hegemony
- class
- national-popular
- international politics
