ABSTRACT
Introduction Antonio Gramsci developed the concept of hegemony in order to address the question of power and socialist struggle in the West. His main aim was to understand the failure of a socialist revolution in Western countries and in doing so he developed the idea of power as hegemony, the centaur that combines force and consent. Since his political intention was to overcome the capitalist hegemonic regime, the idea of alternative or counter-hegemonic forces was central to his view of the social. We could even claim that, maybe paradoxically, one of the strengths of the concept of hegemony is the way it throws light on the subordinated social groups and their counter-hegemonic practices and struggles.
