Antonio Gramsci was an Italian communist philosopher who wrote extensively about cultural hegemony while imprisoned by Mussolini's fascist government in the 1920s-1930s. In his Prison Notebooks, published posthumously, Gramsci argued that the ruling class maintains power not just through economic means but also by promoting their worldview as common sense through cultural institutions. He believed constant struggle occurred in the cultural realm between different ideologies, and that political change could emerge during times of crisis when the authority of the dominant ideology is challenged.

1. GRAMSCI
HTH 1002 History of Thought II
Kara Heitz

2. Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)
• Italian Communist
• Prison Notebooks (1926-1935
• Not published until 1960s & 1970s
• Contra economic determinism
• Role of Cultural Institutions in capitalist
domination

3. Cultural Hegemony
• Domination through consent not coercion
• Ideology of ruling classes seen as “common
sense”
• Role of cultural institutions
• Historic Bloc

4. Cultural Hegemony
• Lots of different ideologies circulate (not just
ones of ruling classes)
• Cultural realm as site of constant struggle
• Political change?
• Crisis of authority

5. Gramsci and Intellectuals
• Traditional Intellectuals
• Organic Intellectuals
“The philosophers have only
interpreted the world, in various
ways. The point, however, is to
change it.”
- Marx, Theses on Feuerbach (1845)

6. “The American Dream”?

7. Hegemonic Myths
in America
• Who is the “common”
person or “real”
American?
• The “American Dream”?
• White Working class shift
from Democratic to
Republican Party

8. Shepard Fairey posters (2017)