Introduction: recovering a Gramsci for our times

Within the tradition of historical materialism initiated by Marx and Engels, the Elgar Companion to Antonio Gramsci offers a comprehensive set of chapters presenting and reflecting on Gramsci’s many contributions to critical social science, social and political thought and emancipatory politics. This introductory chapter situates Gramsci within those fields and provides an overview of the collection. In Part I, contributing authors situate Gramsci’s thought within the broad context of his life and times. Chapters in Part II present key themes within Gramsci’s perspective that elaborate upon Gramsci’s core concept, hegemony, tracking their further development within the subsequent Gramscian tradition of historical materialism. Part III offers the most contemporary analyses, connecting Gramsci’s original problematic with specific domains within recent and contemporary scholarship, wherein Gramscian scholars have applied that problematic in the analysis of late capitalist modernity. This Introduction concludes by recapitulating some key insights from the essays collected herein.