Critical Analysis and Social Care Concepts
bunmi04
Lecture2and3AntonnioGramsci-PowerandConsent.pptxAntonnio Gramsci
Year 3 Social Care
Critical Concepts in Social Care
Readings
Katz, H. (2010) Civil Society Theory: Gramsci in Anheier H.K. and Toepler, S. (Eds) International Encyclopedia of Civil Society. [available online and on moodle]
Zimmerman, A. S. (2017) ‘The Role of Organic Intellectuals in in the era of a Trump Presidency’ Berkley Review of Education. 27-01-2017. [available online]
Introduction
Leading Neo-Marxist thinker
Secretary of the Italian Communist Party and an active labour leader.
he was elected to the Italian Parliament, only to be imprisoned by Mussolini from 1926-37.
While in prison, he produced the hugely influential series of essays posthumously assembled as the Prison Notebooks.
Key Concepts
Hegemony
Civil Society
Common Sense
Traditional and Organic Intellectuals
‘War of Movement’ and ‘War of Position’
Building alliances
Gramsci and Marx
Marxism reasoned that the dominant ideas in capitalist societies are formulated by the ruling class to secure its control over the working class
Marx’s work is highly influenced by economic reasoning. He presents all social and economic life as having two levels: The base and the superstructure.
Gramsci and Marx
The BASE is composed by the material production, money, objects, and the relations of production
The relations of production essentially refer to the unequal and exploitative relationship between the rich and poor
The SUPERSTRUCTURE is where we find the political and ideological institutions, our social relations, set of ideas; our cultures, hopes, dreams and spirit.
Marx reasoned that in capitalist societies that all ideas necessarily reflect the reality that domination by the rich of the poor is normal and good.
Gramsci and Marx
Gramsci accepted the struggle between the ruling class and the subordinate working class was the driving force that moved society forward.
However, Gramsci did not agree with the notion put forward by Marx that the ruling class stayed in power solely because they had economic power.
Gramsci felt that ideological power kept the ruling class in power because it allowed them to brainwash and manipulate the rest of society.
Gramsci and Marx
Ideology seeps into the everyday things we do and into how institutions function
- Cat Church in Ireland: bishop throwing the ball in
- Angelus at 6pm
- National flags in classrooms
- RTE News and ‘appropriate’programming
- Father Ted – turned down by RTE
- Late Late Show – Reflected changing values
Gramsci and Marx
Those who monopolize ideological power have authority over others
Subordinate groups tend to accept the ideas and values of the dominant group because they know no better or there are not other alternatives.
From Gramsci’s view, the bourgeoisie gained and maintained power due to economic domination and intellectual and moral leadership.
Gramsci and Marx
The main difference between Gramsci and Marx is that Gramsci saw potential for subordinate groups to challenge the hegemony of the state by activism and persuasion
On the other hand, Marx saw no real potential for persuasion and therefore believed that subordinate groups could only gain power by violent revolution
Gramsci and Civil Society
In Gramsci’s theory, the world of ideas has a lot more freedom from economics than posited by Marx
Gramsci divided the superstructure into institutions that were coercive and those that were not.
The coercive ones, were institutions such as the government, police, armed forces and the legal system
the non-coercive were ones such as the churches, the schools, trade unions, political parties, cultural associations, clubs and family, which he regarded as civil society.
So for Gramsci, society was made up of the relations of production as well as the state and civil society.
Hegemony
Any long-lasting social control requires power at both of these levels
The first type of domination is commonly associated with coercive state action by the courts, the police, the army
The second type of control (“hegemony” proper) is more insidious and complicated to achieve. It involves subduing and co-opting dissenting voices through subtle dissemination of the dominant group’s perspective as universal and natural, to the point where the dominant beliefs are presented as common sense.
In a hegemonic regime, an unjust social arrangement is internalized and endlessly reinforced in schools, churches, institutions, scholarly exchanges, museums, and popular culture. Gramsci’s work on hegemony provides a useful starting point for scholars who understand that domination is often subtle, invisible, and consensual. (Litowitz, 2000)
Gramsci and Hegemony
Gramsci’s statement about these two axes of domination is classic:
[T]he supremacy of a social group manifests itself in two ways, as “Domination” and as “intellectual and moral leadership”. A social group dominates antagonistic groups, which it tends to “liquidate”, or to subjugate perhaps even by armed force; it leads kindred and allied groups. A social group can, and indeed must, already exercise “leadership” before winning governmental power (this indeed is one of the principal conditions for the winning of such power); it subsequently becomes dominant when it exercises power, but even if it holds it firmly in its grasp, it must continue to lead”
The ‘liquidation’ of the Combat Poverty Agency and the Equality Agency in Ireland may be seen as examples of this
Forming Alliances
Gramsci stated that the only way the working class can achieve hegemony is if it takes into account the interests of other groups and social forces and finds ways of combining them with its own interests.
In other words, the working class will need to build alliances with social minorities, taking into account their struggles against the capital class, thus strengthening the position of the working class.
Consider the Scandinavian Marxists and farmers groups in the late 1800s and early 1900s
Forming Alliances Examples:
Catholic Church with the Irish state
State with media institutions (Miriam o Callaghan and Jim O Callaghan; Simon Coveney and Rory Coveney)
Church with media institutions
Think of BLM and the NBA and NFL
The Republican party in the US making alliances with Catholic organisations
Disability Groups or LGBT groups making alliances with political parties and media groups
Disability groups with the Church
‘War of Movement’ and ‘War of Position’
Gramsci integrates the concept of ‘war of movement’ and ‘war of position’ to explain the strategies for the political struggle.
In case of war of movement a system is directly replaced by a revolutionary force.
‘War of Movement’ and ‘War of Position’
The superstructures of civil society are like the trench system of modern warfare.
In western societies even if the state is destroyed, the revolutionary forces will face a challenge from the civil society and in that case war of position is the only option.
The results of the ‘war of position’ are not fast like the ‘war of movement’. In case of the former the change takes place from within and it takes a longer time.
War of Position
Gramsci argued that the state plays an important role in organizing all political and administrative forces and it will reinforce the “hegemonic” positions of all dominant groups.
On the other hand Gramsci wants to ‘develop a revolutionary strategy (a “war of position”) that would be played out in civil society, with the aim of, gaining access to political power, and creating the conditions that could give rise to a consensual society wherein no individual or group is reduced to a subaltern status
Traditional and Organic Intellectuals
Gramsci felt that in order to have hegemony, ideologies have to be instilled by certain people or leaders. Gramsci identified intellectuals as leaders in society. He identified two types of intellectuals. The first is traditional intellectuals
prominent religious figures, philosophers, the town lawyer or school master, etc) they tend to hold official positions. They have often been sanctioned by the state (Lecturers). (they tend to see themselves as independent of society, but in reality they often uphold the state line.
The second type is the organic intellectual. These are intellectuals who argue for their class. Their positions are ‘unofficial’. They help their class to identify their own needs.
Who might be considered Organic intellectuals today?
Kanye West / Kim Kardashian?
Reporters from Fox News in the US
Irish radio DJs (George Hook; Matt Cooper; Claire Byrne; Fintan O Toole)
Blindboy from the Rubberbandits?
Bono?
Ryan Tubridy?
John Connors?
APPLYING GRAMSCI
How does hegemony work in Ireland?
How does the dominant group use (a) force to subdue challengers or (b) use subtler forms of coercion?
Who are the key civil society organisations in Ireland?
Have you ever felt under pressure to express or not express a particular idea or opinion?
What ‘what antagonistic groups’ have been ‘liquidated’ by the Irish State
What gets funding from the state and what should in your opinion:
The Arts; the GAA; Irish language
APPYLING GRAMSCI
Forming alliances
Who should groups related to social care build alliances with?
Media groups
Unions
Other civil society organisations
FF/FG with Catholic Church; GAA; Farmers groups;
GREEN HEGEMONY
give examples – how would a radical greenwash of Irish society present itself
How have environmentalists been presented by the political mainstream in terms of ‘Common sense’
The media
Religions
How was religious faith presented in Ireland in terms of ‘common sense’?
Hegemony in Social Care?
Think about the following in terms of whether them might be considered fair and normal:
Think about how these versions of ‘reality’ or ‘normality’ might be or have been challenged
Those who got pregnant out of wedlock did an ‘evil’ thing and deserved their fate in the magdelene laundrys
Those who were sent to industrial schools were flawed individuals who would always be deviants. They therefore deserved their fate
Educational Disadvantage – those who fail deserve to fail through individual weakness
Health – a two tier health system is ‘normal’ and ‘good’
Hegemony in Social Care?
Think about the following in terms of whether them might be considered fair and normal:
Think about how these versions of ‘reality’ or ‘normality’ might be or have been challenged
Homosexuality is ‘abnormal’. Therefore social services should not be run by people who are openly gay.
Those who are homeless deserve their fate. The system is fair.
Those accessing homeless service should not be allowed to use drugs or alcohol on site.
Drug users should not be assisted in taking drugs safely as this only encourages them to continue using
Social care providers know best what their clients need.
