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Historical Materialism #102
Gramsci's Pathways
Gramsci's works, in particular his Prison Notebooks , are a real 'workshop' of activity. Even though these texts were the product of a great mind and an organic conception of the world, the particular context in which they are written poses challenges for their interpreters. This philological 'excavation' of the pathways of Gramsci's thinking brings us closer to an author who is more 'widely-known' than he is understood. The first part of the volume deals with central themes of Gramsci's worldview such as the concepts of the state, civil society, ideology, common sense, morality and conformism. The second part deals with Gramsci's relations with thinkers as diverse as Machiavelli, Marx, Engels, Labriola, Togliatti, whereas the third part offers some reflections on the metaphors used by Gramsci as well as contemporary views of the Sardinian Communist.
First published in Italian by Carocci Editore as Sentieri gramsciani , 2006.
First published in Italian by Carocci Editore as Sentieri gramsciani , 2006.
- GenresNonfiction
248 pages, Hardcover
First published August 27, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 12, 2026
Something of an official compendium/dictionary of the International Gramsci Society for various concepts and terms crucial to Gramscian Studies.
Like most Gramscian analysis, Althusser's ISA is interpreted as purely structuralist as possible in an uncharitable fashion which argues that there is no room for class struggle, unlike Gramsci's extended state. This is obviously false, class struggle and the state just plays out differently for Althusserians.
Most interesting is chapters 5 on ideology, reading two definitions of ideology in Marx, the famously negative one and another positive/neutral, with the latter taken up by Gramsci. This has interesting implications for the Foucauldian inheritance of traditional Marxist definitions of ideology, which uses it and applies it to Marxism in Marxism's own negative sense.
There is a good chapter on Togliatti and the PCd'I, opposing the idea that Togliatti was the stereotypical "Stalinist" schemer or that there was a significant break with the Party by Gramsci.
The chapter on Engels is fascinating. Gramsci upholds the dialectic of nature, but criticizes the Dialectic of Nature as unfinished and actually not proving the dialectic. While Gramsci criticizes Lukacs on his rejection of it, he ironically upholds the same position that Lukacs came to in Tailism and the Dialectic, though Gramsci had no way of knowing this owing to its unpublished nature.
The chapter on Labriola is dry and refers only to his famous essays, very disheartening considering the total lack of English scholarship regarding his work.
Like most Gramscian analysis, Althusser's ISA is interpreted as purely structuralist as possible in an uncharitable fashion which argues that there is no room for class struggle, unlike Gramsci's extended state. This is obviously false, class struggle and the state just plays out differently for Althusserians.
Most interesting is chapters 5 on ideology, reading two definitions of ideology in Marx, the famously negative one and another positive/neutral, with the latter taken up by Gramsci. This has interesting implications for the Foucauldian inheritance of traditional Marxist definitions of ideology, which uses it and applies it to Marxism in Marxism's own negative sense.
There is a good chapter on Togliatti and the PCd'I, opposing the idea that Togliatti was the stereotypical "Stalinist" schemer or that there was a significant break with the Party by Gramsci.
The chapter on Engels is fascinating. Gramsci upholds the dialectic of nature, but criticizes the Dialectic of Nature as unfinished and actually not proving the dialectic. While Gramsci criticizes Lukacs on his rejection of it, he ironically upholds the same position that Lukacs came to in Tailism and the Dialectic, though Gramsci had no way of knowing this owing to its unpublished nature.
The chapter on Labriola is dry and refers only to his famous essays, very disheartening considering the total lack of English scholarship regarding his work.
January 24, 2022
The comments about Althusser's ISA in this book are sloppy and wrong
liguori says that althusser "probably" derived his conception of the ISA from gramsci's concept of hegemony - althusser explicitly refers to gramsci and his notebooks in "ideology and ideological state apparatuses"
liguori then goes on to claim that hegemony and the ("distorted") ISA are "distant from each other" because the ISA are not "shot through by class struggle", and that gramsci saw the state as the terrain of class struggle, while althusser does not (which is wrong, althusser himself calls the state apparatuses (both repressive and ideological) the main site of class struggle).
liguori says that althusser "probably" derived his conception of the ISA from gramsci's concept of hegemony - althusser explicitly refers to gramsci and his notebooks in "ideology and ideological state apparatuses"
liguori then goes on to claim that hegemony and the ("distorted") ISA are "distant from each other" because the ISA are not "shot through by class struggle", and that gramsci saw the state as the terrain of class struggle, while althusser does not (which is wrong, althusser himself calls the state apparatuses (both repressive and ideological) the main site of class struggle).
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews