Antonio Gramsci

Italian Marxist thinker who developed the concept of cultural hegemony — explaining how the ruling class maintains power through cultural and ideological consent rather than just force — from his prison cell under Mussolini.

Cultural hegemony: the dominant class maintains power not mainly through coercion but through ideological leadership — winning consent across civil society, education, media, culture. War of position vs. war of maneuver: in advanced capitalist societies, revolution requires a long struggle within civil society (war of position) rather than frontal assault (war of maneuver). Organic intellectual: every class produces its own intellectuals who organize its worldview. The Prison Notebooks: 3,000 pages written in prison (1929-35) — the most significant body of Marxist political theory since Marx.