Theorists can borrow rival concepts and redefine them within their own framework.

Evidence

The conceptual vocabulary here is drawn in part from Bergson, introduced in order to fill a gap felt by Gramsci to exist ‘in traditional Marxist theories of social and individual praxis. More than anything else it is these importations from non-Marxist philosophies that have caused Gramsci to be taxed with idealism by more “orthodox” Marxists. It should, however, be noted that in an earlier passage Gramsci defines “will” in a very non-Bergsonian sense as equalling, in the last analysis, practical or political activity, and in general he does not hesitate consciously to use words from an earlier philosophical tradition while endowing them with a new content determined by their context within a Marxist discourse. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2538

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels the toolkit move in the Islamophobia module where Orientalism’s ‘representation’ and ‘Other’ are borrowed from aesthetics and re-anchored in postcolonial critique; Gramsci’s ‘will’ = political activity is a precedent for such refunctionalizing.
• DEFINE: Clarifies that Gramsci’s ‘will’ means practical or political activity, not a Bergsonian élan — a usage worth pinning down before carrying it into hegemony theory.