Post-hegemony

I Don't Think So

Bibliographic Data

ID2352038
AuthorsRichard T Johnson (0000-0002-4962-5285, Faculty of Humanities at Nottingham Trent University, corresponding author), Richard Johnson (0000-0002-8334-2617, Faculty of Humanities at Nottingham Trent University)
Year2007
Volume24
Issue3
Pages95-110
Publication date2007-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTheory Culture & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0263-2764 • E-ISSN: 1460-3616
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0263276407075958
OpenAlexW2072990386
LanguageEN
Citations received25
References cited29

This article responds to Lash and Thoburn's articles in this volume by arguing for the value of Gramsci's strategic concept of hegemony today. It places post-hegemony theories as replicating one particular reading of Gramsci as a theorist of ideology and politics only, a reading that was deepened by certain appropriations of post-structuralist theory in the 1980s. It argues that the Prison Notebooks contain a richer legacy of concepts and historical methods, many of which are applicable to today's global reach of power and communication. In particular, Gramsci was concerned with the relations between Fordist innovation and changes in state, civil society, intellectual formations and ways of living. He was especially interested in popular 'common sense', which, in his view, was the starting point of political work and could be the product of a renovative political activism. His ideas remain relevant to understanding recent transitions, especially since 11 September 2001, and the reach and limits of global neo-liberal hegemonies today, including the role of neo-liberal intellectuals and of a deepened individualism in everyday life. They also offer resources for counter-hegemonic strategies. Although Lash and Thoburn grasp a crucial coagulation of power today, their superseding of hegemony is based on an impoverished reading of the history of Gramscianism in cultural studies, and on a collapse of key complexities and local differences which is typical of some versions of social theory

Aesthetics · Epistemology · Hegemony · Ideology · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Reading (process · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Elite Sociology and Global Capitalism · Law · Philosophy · Political theory and Gramsci