Gramsci's contributions to the understanding of politics and its relation to communication theory

Abstract

In today's complex scenario, where hegemonic and ideologically biased communicational patterns are globalized, the analysis of Gramsci's political conceptions is pertinent. This follower of Marxist theory, by appropriating his conceptual methodological framework, manages to establish several contributions to the understanding of politics as a social and cultural process. His conceptions about power (civil society/political society); the construction of hegemony; and the organic function of intellectuals in society, constitute the main contributions to an accurate understanding of politics in its dialectical and complex dynamics. These contributions enthrone with the main theories of communication, especially with European theory and Latin American critical studies. Within the former, the link between Gramscian conceptions and the positions of the representatives of the Frankfort school on the dialectical interweaving of culture, economy and politics stand out. Furthermore, the correspondence established between culture and politics in the construction of the hegemony of a given social class corresponds to the postulates of the representatives of Latin American critical studies. The latter were focused on the construction of an emancipatory communication that would break with the economic, political and cultural dependence of Latin America. The present work denotes a remarkable importance in erecting theoretical proposals of de-alienating communicational patterns from a philosophy of praxis.