Toward a Gramscian critical rhetoric

Optimism of the Will. Antonio Gramsci Takes in Max Weber

“…Forfeiting gives up even more than the possibility of a better future; it also weakens our hold on the trenches of rights and resources that others have already won for us through the struggle and patience that Gramsci called a protracted war of political position [55] (p. 140). Or better, such rights and resources could not have fully been won for us by others if the Gramscian war of position has been successful, as success would mean in this case that intellectuals have given up the privilege to turn into a progressive force, a catalyst of an alternative historical bloc [41]. But, sobriety has been the preferred option for intellectuals during the decades after the heady 1960s, maybe because it sounds smarter to be right about the world as we know it than to speculate on how it could change-or to take the risks to be part of such change, by embracing the responsibilities that come with a commitment to Gramscian 'good sense' as opposed to the 'common sense' of the status quo [56].…”

“…For Gramsci, the tireless movement of praxis animated the new Reformation. It may recognize in its enthusiasm something of the religious zeal that inspired earlier movements, and that survived in Sorel's attempt at a mythopoetic revolution [41], but the modern feeling would be free from other worldly incentives, including the calculating spirit of Calvinism:…”

“…In this regard, one can consider the 're-enchantment' of our notion of social change as a possible, partial inversion of the flow of cultural influence in which some areas of the Global South take a propositional role, and leave the receiver end of the relationship, thus creating a new sense of possibility of re-configuration of the patterns of cultural influence across the Global South itself [39], and toward the Global North [40]. This idea resonates intriguingly with the Gramscian vision of a re-energization of the subaltern through a rediscovery and re-framing of popular culture as a repertory of norms, rituals, and traditions that is dialectically alternative to the hegemonic one [41]. Again, in accord with the Gramscian vision, this process of re-enchantment cannot but be rooted in a transformational view of education as a form of personal and collective empowerment.…”

Engaging Engagement: Framing the Civic Education Movement In Higher Education

“…In the above example of reciprocity, an organic intellectual may evaluate the norm and conclude that it is good societal practice that benefits most people; or rearticulate (i.e., change) the norm to benefit most people (e.g., when someone gives you something you should give something back, but you should seek an equitable exchange). Ideology can be a tool used by both the core and the subaltern (Gramsci, 1971;Zompetti, 1997). Gramsci argues that there is the potential for the subaltern to change the hegemony in ways that make the subaltern less disenfranchised.…”

From Ideology to Ideologue: How the Mormon Church Utilizes the Ideograph to Interpellate Identity

“…Second, I will discuss Althusser's conceptualization of ideology. Althusser (2009) borrowed heavily from Gramsci as he also approached the concept of ideology from a Marxist perspective (Zompetti, 1997). Althusser argued that ideology is necessary to the reproduction of labor:…”