Gramsci's Relevance for the Study of Race and Ethnicity

Abstract

The aim of this collection of essays1 is to facilitate ‘a more sophisticated examination of the hitherto poorly elucidated phenomen of racism and to examine the adequacy of the theoretical formulations, paradigms and interpretive schemes in the social and human sciences…with respect to intolerance and racism and in relation to the complexity of problems they pose.’ This general rubric enables me to situate more precisely the kind of contribution which a study of Gramsci’s work can make to the larger enterprise. In my view, Gramsci’s work does not offer a general social science which can be applied to the analysis of social phenomena across a wide comparative range of historical societies. His potential contribution is more limited. It remains, for all that, of seminal importance. His work is, precisely, of a ‘sophisticating’ kind. He works, broadly, within the marxist paradigm. However, he has extensively revised, renovated and sophisticated many aspects of that theoretical framework to make it more relevant to contemporary social relations in the twentieth century. His work therefore has a direct bearing on the question of the ‘adequacy’ of existing social theories, since it is precisely in the direction of ‘complexifying existing theories and problems’ that his most important theoretical contribution is to be found. These points require further clarification before a substantive resume and assessment of Gramsci’s theoretical contribution can be offered.