The state is an equilibrium of coercion and consent run through civil society
Evidence
Moreover, I extend the notion of intellectual considerably, and do not limit myself to the habitual meaning, which refers only to great intellectuals. This study also leads to certain determinations of the concept of State, which is usually understood as political society (or dictatorship; or coercive apparatus to bring the mass of the people into conformity with the specific type of production and the specific economy at a given moment) and not as an equilibrium between political society and civil society (or hegemony of a social group over the entire national society exercised through the so-called private organisations, like the Church, the trade unions, the schools, etc.); it is precisely in civil society that intellectuals operate especially (Benedetto Croce, for example, is a kind of lay pope and an extremely efficient instrument of hegemony— even if at times he may find himself in disagreement with one government or another, etc.) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1869
Categorization
- DEFINE: Gramsci’s expanded notion of ‘intellectual’ and the state as political society plus civil society, where hegemony operates through private institutions.
- XREF: The civil-society/political-society equilibrium maps directly onto how later Islamophobia scholars separate cultural-ideological racism from state coercion while insisting both operate together. — connects to: The State is an equilibrium between coercive political society and hegemonic civil society — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1869; State power fuses hegemonic consent with coercive enforcement — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 61; Hegemony runs on consent backed by a standby coercive apparatus (+6 more)
Broader Connections
- The State is an equilibrium between coercive political society and hegemonic civil society
#corroborates(0.97) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1869 - State power fuses hegemonic consent with coercive enforcement
#corroborates(0.92) — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 61 - The state operates as both civil and political society
#corroborates(0.87) - Hegemony runs on consent backed by a standby coercive apparatus
#corroborates(0.85) - Hegemony combines coercion with actively won consent, with consent in the lead
#corroborates(0.84) - Hegemony rests on consent backed by state coercion held in reserve
#corroborates(0.83) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 278 - State coercive power stands ready for moments when spontaneous consent fails
#corroborates(0.82) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 279 - Hegemony via civil society and state coercion are the two superstructural levels
#expands(0.80) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 277