Au Retour aGramsci

Reflections on Civil Society, Political Society and the State in South Asia

Bibliographic Data

ID3985474
AuthorsJudith Whitehead (University of Lethbridge, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume45
Issue4
Pages660-676
Publication date2015-10-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary Asia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-2336 • E-ISSN: 1752-7554
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00472336.2015.1045725
OpenAlexW1892189788
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited25

This article critically analyses Partha Chatterjee's recent concepts of civil society and political society, showing that their binary character is derived from a culturalist conflation of capitalism with modernity. In turn, modernity becomes equated with a naturalised liberal democratic state, precluding any appreciation of how resistance can and does shape the character of the state. Second, it compares Chatterjee's categories of civil and political society to those of Gramsci, arguing that a return to classical Gramscian categories, along with an appreciation of the impact of colonialism on state forms, can provide studies of resistance with a richer and more elegant understanding of social change from below in contemporary India

Capitalism · Character (mathematics · Chatterjee · Civil society · Colonialism · Democracy · Modernity · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Resistance (ecology · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · Law · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism · Political theory and Gramsci

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