Religion and Politics in Gramsci: An Introduction

Abstract

Little has been printed in English on Gramsci's sociology of religion, despite considerable work done in European languages, particularly Italian. Yet Gramsci wrote extensively on the subject as well as on the link of religion to hegemony, the best known of his concepts. The main aim of the article is to supply English readers with an introduction to the topic. This is done with direct reference to Gramsci's writings, particularly The Prison Notebooks, but also with the aid of the main French and Italian commentators. Gramsci's understanding of religion is bound up with the principal concern of his work: to understand the dynamics of power in society both in the past as well as in the present, with an aim to bringing about a socialist “intellectual and moral reformation.” The article examines this key term and its link with religion in Gramsci's outlook, before proceeding to the key concepts for analyzing religion: the common sense, the religion of the people, philosophy, the religion of the intellectuals, folklore and hegemony. Gramsci's analysis of history as a study of the interplay between religion and social structure is then outlined. Finally, the writer concludes that there is much to be learned from Gramsci's method and conceptual framework if one is seeking to re-discover the link between religion and politics in social-structural analysis.