Gramsci treats culture as the terrain where hegemony is won and contested

Evidence

Seventh, following the same line of thought, one might note the centrality which Gramsci’s analysis always gives to the cultural factor in social development. By culture, here, I mean the actual, grounded terrain of practices, representations, languages, and customs of any specific historical society. I also mean the contradictory forms of “common sense” which have taken root in and helped to shape popular life. I would also include that whole distinctive range of questions which Gramsci lumped together under the title “the national-popular.” Gramsci understands that these constitute a crucial site for the construction of a popular hegemony. They are a key stake as objects of political and ideological struggle and practice. They constitute a national resource for change as well as a potential barrier to the development of a new collective will. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 141

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines what Hall means by ‘culture’ in the Gramscian register: practices, representations, languages, customs, plus contradictory common sense and the national-popular.
• XREF: Directly connectable to the hegemony/common-sense scaffolding the Islamophobia field builds on; ‘national-popular’ also prefigures race/ethnicity as national-popular formations.