Social transformation meets resistance from both subaltern and allied dominant sectors

Evidence

The fact that a progressive initiative has been set in train by a particular social force is not without fundamental consequences: the “subaltern” forces, which have to be “manipulated” and rationalised to serve new ends, naturally put up a resistance. But resistance is also offered by certain sectors of the dominant forces, or at least by forces which are allied to those which are dominant. Prohibition, which in the United States was a necessary condition for developing a new type of worker suitable to “Fordised” industry, has failed as a result of the opposition of marginal and still backward forces and certainly not because of the opposition of either the industrialists or the workers (etc.). — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1032

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces ‘subaltern’ as forces manipulated and rationalised for others’ ends, and shows how both governed and allied-dominant groups resist progressive initiatives.