Gramscian Thought

Antonio Gramsci's (1891–1937) posthumously published prison notebooks launched him as a definitive figure in educational theory and philosophy. In terms of education, though, he is perhaps best known for the development of cultural hegemony. Marxist theorists such as Vladimir Lenin had developed notions of political hegemony, meaning that dominant society maintains control over the working classes through direct force, and had thus called for revolution of the working class. Gramsci, however, believed that direct force was not the only way in which hierarchical systems were created and maintained. Rather, his concept of cultural hegemony asked that society move beyond this notion of rule through direct force and examine how knowledge or ideologies are used to maintain control as well. He asked that people examine the ways in which hegemonic institutions such as schools, churches, the family, labor unions, the press, and so forth all work to present and maintain dominant ideologies as the norm. It was then through normalization, Gramsci argued, that working-class people came to accept these ideologies as common sense. Control, then, could be both direct and ideological. It is important to note, however, that ideological control was not an abstract concept, but was actualized through the lived experiences of the people.

For Gramsci, cultural hegemony was the explanation as to why the socialist revolution had yet to occur, and this theory was also his means of proposing the future of socialism. Indeed, Gramsci argued that hegemony was connected to education, and if the proletariats were to break down dominant ideologies and values, then they would have to look toward education. Education would be the means through which the working class would liberate itself by examining and deconstructing dominant culture and developing or redefining its own culture. As the educational system functioned during Gramsci's era, each new generation of working-class [Page 417]students was pushed into the same working-class occupations as its parents. In turn, this also meant that the working class consistently lacked the political and social capital of the privileged. In reference to curriculum, Gramsci argued that these educational forms of control were obvious in what schools chose to emphasize as suitable in terms of content and pedagogy. Cultural hegemony was obvious in school relationships in which cultures were valued and in the access to and distribution of knowledge. The educational system valued dominant culture and devalued anything else. As a result, education would have to change to help the working class lift itself out of its current situation through social, cultural, and political enlightenment and power. Reconceiving education should be one of the main goals, Gramsci thought, of the workers' movement.

Gramsci gave people a framework for understanding dominant control both during his time and today. In particular, he moved beyond traditional Marxist theories by expanding notions that control was maintained through direct force. He examined social and ideological forms of control and thus provided society with a means of deconstructing dominant ideologies and moving toward social, political, and economic change, particularly in the school system.

In many ways, Gramsci was ahead of his time. His theories called for education for the working class and thus acted as forerunners to the philosophies of popular educators such as Paulo Freire and Frantz Fanon. In “Socialism and Culture” in 1916, for example, Gramsci compared man to a receptacle ready to be filled with facts, and thus, he highlights the problem that Freire later coins banking education, an issue that many believe still plagues education today. Gramsci believed that education could lead to liberation from one's current social condition. Like Freire, then, he saw education as freedom; Gramsci perceived gaps between theory and practice and between academia and the people, and he worked to bridge these gaps through popular education. He also fought against hierarchical reproductions in schools through early forms of sorting and tracking and argued for education for women. In these ways, he was a man before his time, a man dedicated to democratic education.

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