How does Gramsci understand social cohesion and consent?

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Antonio Gramsci is without doubt, a spiritual follower of Marxism. Drawing the consequences of his experiences of worker's movements and communist party politics, as well as of his numerous readings and philosophical influences, he has greatly contributed to the evolution of Marxist thought in the 20th century. However, he developed a theory in contrast with the traditional Marxist current of thought. By shifting his attention from the Marxist focus on economics, towards a theory in which humans play an active role, Gramsci has revived the role of politics, and more generally of society, in Marxist political thinking. But more than an analyst of capitalist society and of historical phenomena, he was first and foremost a theorist of revolution. What role does social cohesion and consent play in Gramsci's theory? Social cohesion refers to the way in which norms and values help to hold the society together, whereas social consent relates with the way in which agreement is reached. Both these notions are closely related with the sphere of politics, as they help to understand how political power can be achieved and maintained.

Extraits

[...] And to want to use them.'[11]As he points out, the first task towards revolution was the awareness of common interests and of the existence of a class, that is the development of class consciousness. Gramsci considered that social classes were not homogeneous. Therefore, the rise of a social class aware of its own domination and of its common interests could not simply be achieved as a mere result of its position in the system of production. It could neither be the ‘natural product of the life experience of the working people'[12]. [...]

[...] II/ How is social cohesion and consent built, and how does it operate? The focus on social cohesion and consent in Gramsci's theory helps to explain how a dominant social group comes to power and maintains its position. Gramsci developed a conceptual tool in order to analyse the role of cohesion and consent in such situations, that of hegemony. As Femia puts it, hegemony is the ‘basic theoretical point of departure for Gramsci's Marxism'[4]. What is the relation between social cohesion and consent and power? [...]

[...] It is not difficult to understand why the consent reached has to be so profound. Gramsci is trying to understand why the proletariat comes to support the existing order, that is the bourgeois state, whereas this state is not promoting the interests of the proletariat. According to Femia[8], Gramsci understands consent in hegemony as conformity with the dominant worldview which is brought about by an agreement in relation with some specific objects ‘persons, beliefs, values, institutions'- powerful that it can counteract division and disruptive forces arising from conflicting interests'. [...]

[...] How does Gramsci understand social cohesion and consent? Introduction Antonio Gramsci is without doubt a spiritual heir of Marxism. Drawing the consequences of his experiences of worker's movements and communist party politics, as well as of his numerous readings and philosophical influences, he has greatly contributed to the evolution of the Marxist thought in the 20th century. However, he developed a theory in contrast with the traditional Marxist current of thought. By shifting his attention from the Marxist focus on economics - and its almost mechanical consequences on the superstructure - towards a theory in which humans play an active role, Gramsci has revived the role of politics, and more generally of society, in Marxist political thinking. [...]

[...] Hegemony operates both in civil society and in political society, and combines with the use of force. As Gramsci points out, in parliamentary regimes are ‘characterised by the combination of force and consent, which balance each other reciprocally to ensure that force will appear to be based on the consent of the majority'[6]. Both civil society and the state are involved in the process of hegemony. Without completely breaking with the Marxist tradition, Gramsci still thinks there is a relation between power and those who own the modes of production, but this is not a sufficient reason to explain their political domination. [...]