Politics has relatively autonomous forms requiring study in their own right

Evidence

Gramsci certainly would not entertain that kind of reductionism for a moment. He knows he is analyzing structurally complex, not simple and transparent, formations. He knows that politics has its own “relatively autonomous” forms, tempos, and trajectories, which need to be studied in their own right, with their own distinctive concepts, and with attention to their real and retroactive effects. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 139

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the Gramscian concept of politics’ ‘relative autonomy’ from the economic base — a core scaffold for reading racialized politics.
• XREF: This ‘relative autonomy’ of politics directly scaffolds the Islamophobia canon’s insistence that racial exclusion is not merely an economic epiphenomenon. — connects to: The state is educative and formative, not merely coercive and administrative; Intellectual work differs from academic work and from politics itself; Intellectuals’ self-image as autonomous shapes ideology and politics. (+5 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 139

Broader Connections

• Intellectual work differs from academic work and from politics itself #corroborates (0.82)
• Economic structures are necessary but not sufficient to explain political and ideological features #expands (0.82)
• Intellectuals’ self-image as autonomous shapes ideology and politics. #corroborates (0.80)