State coercive power stands ready for moments when spontaneous consent fails
Evidence
- The apparatus of state coercive power which “legally” enforces discipline on those groups who do not “consent” either actively or passively. This apparatus is, however, constituted for the whole of society in anticipation of moments of crisis of command and direction when spontaneous consent has failed. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 279
Categorization
- DEFINE: Pairs with #278: coercion is the backup apparatus activated when hegemony breaks down.
- XREF: connects to: Presuming society already failed justifies coercive intervention for certainty — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1059; Durable domination requires both state force and internalized consent — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 465; The state is an equilibrium of coercion and consent run through civil society — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1869