Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist philosopher imprisoned under Mussolini, theorized that ruling classes maintain power through hegemony—the process by which a dominant group's worldview becomes accepted as common sense rather than imposed by force. His analysis, developed in prison notebooks between 1929 and 1935, argues that political power in capitalist societies requires building cultural and intellectual authority through language, institutions, and repeated ideas before state power can be seized.
This article explains Antonio Gramsci's concept of hegemony, the process by which a ruling class's worldview becomes treated as common sense and natural reality rather than ideology. Through language, institutions, and cultural practices, dominant groups maintain power by shaping what society considers reasonable and self-evident, operating through consent rather than force. Gramsci developed this theory while imprisoned by Mussolini, analyzing how fascism succeeded in Italy where post-WWI revolutionary movements failed.