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"The
supremacy of a social group manifests itself in two ways, as 'domination'
and as 'intellectual and moral leadership'. A social group dominates
antagonistic groups...it leads kindred and allied groups. A social
group can, and indeed must, already exercise 'leadership' before
winning governmental power"
(Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1971)
"Hegemony means the ideological subordination of the working
class by the bourgeoisie, which enables it to rule by consent"
- (Perry Anderson, New Left Review, 1977)
"Gramsci remains essential reading for anyone concerned with
the relationships between rulers and ruled, leaders and led, in
democratic movements and political systems. Gramsci's work...explores
various aspects of power; firstly, the concept of hegemony, and
secondly, the nature of intellectuals and their role in organised
political struggle."
(Joseph Buttigieg, International Gramsci Society Newsletter, 1994)
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Disorganised political
struggle, if they're like most intellectuals I know. In fact, why
don't we drop this struggle thing and go off down the pub? Sociology
in general, and Marxist sociology in particular, has always suffered
from that division between 'the political' and everything else people
do in their lives. The former is taken seriously as conscious, formal,
organised activity, the rest dismissed as ideology, irrelevant superstructural
activity. It was Gramsci
who first took seriously the myriad of day to day activities engaged
in by the mass of people. Going to church, reading the paper, watching
TV, shopping, all these activities are suffused with choices partly
made, partly forced by political constraints. They are essentially
political activities in the broad sense that they contribute to
the formation of social life, and are affected deeply by socio-political
forces.
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