Cheap DVDs, books, CDs & Games

Search:

Gramsci's Political Thought: An Introduction

By: Roger Simon
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Lawrence & Wishart Ltd
ISBN: 0853157383
ISBN-13: 9780853157380
Released: 01 Jan 1990
RRP: £10.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Good as introduction, but watch out for bias - By: ldxar1, 29 Jan 2004
Although posing as an introduction, this book has two functions. As well as being an introduction, it presents a case for interpreting contemporary (i.e. late 70s early 80s) events in line with the "Gramscian" perspectives developed by the Eurocommunist "Marxism Today" group. The problem is that the two tasks often become fused, so a reader could easily become confused as to what exactly is Gramsci & what is Simon in many of the sections.

Roger Simon tends to superficialise many of the more philosophical aspects of Gramsci's work, & does not understand the depths at which Gramsci saw ruling-class power as operating. He tends to reduce the issue to competing agendas of political parties & elites, downplaying the subtle controls exerted through "common sense". When he discusses the latter, it is refracted through an Althusserian paradigm of "ideological apparatuses" which has only a tentative link to Gramsci's texts.

A reader who is cautious about the political appropriations of Gramsci should nevertheless be able to get from this book a clear introduction to a number of key Gramscian concepts. If the book is to be read prior to Gramsci's Prison Notebooks, readers should take with a pinch of salt the various appropriations which link Gramsci to contemporary politics, & should be aware that the intellectual reformation/philosophy/common sense section of his theory is not covered very well. However, the rest of the concepts are explained clearly.