ABSTRACT
So far we have concentrated on hegemony as a project that involves the formation of moral and intellectual consensus, under the leadership of a particular social group. However, Gramsci draws a distinction between this ‘moment of consent’ and a ‘moment of force’ in which consensus dissolves into dissensus. The recourse to coercive and authoritarian means of enforcing a group’s rule is evidence that it has failed in its attempt to construct an expansive hegemony. By taking this action, the hegemonic group or class severely compromises its credibility, and must therefore work harder than ever to shore up its rule through whatever ideological, economic, political and legal resources it has at its disposal. This is a particularly urgent task since opposition forces are likely to seize upon this lack of consent in order to construct their own counter-hegemony and fill the consensual vacuum. We can therefore to some extent unpick Gramsci’s opposition between the moments of consent and force, since the latter is likely to be a period of more intensive ‘consensualization’, even if consent itself is withheld.
