Conclusion: Gramsci and Modernity

Abstract

Gramsci’s prison writings have inspired the analysis of contemporary societies principally through his concept of hegemony. This has directed empirical and theoretical research towards the cultural and ideological processes that underlie formal institutions of power such as the state. Conceived as ‘intellectual and moral leadership’, the concept hegemony points the analysis of power away from pure coercion and towards the maintenance of ideological supremacy. This is not to say that hegemony consists merely in ideological domination without resistance. On the contrary, to ‘lead’ is not the same as to ‘dominate’. Leadership implies persuasion and, in turn, that demands that we look to the complex processes of negotiation, inclusion and exclusion that accompany the material exercise of power. This is what Gramsci indicated in his reference to civil society — ‘private’ organizations, and ‘intellectuals’ — where hegemony was conceived as an ongoing struggle to define the world in accordance with dominant groups and classes.