ABSTRACT
This chapter will draw connections between freestyle kayaking and Antonio Gramsci, who was an Italian revolutionary and leading communist during the 1920s and 1930s. Although this connection may seem surprising, Gramsci’s thought has been widely applied well beyond its original national and historical context. In particular, his development of the concept of hegemony has been widely drawn upon for the analysis of trans-national corporate business, and has been used to provide an explanation for the growth and dominance of global capitalism. Gramsci can also provide a useful framework for the interpretation of cultural interaction and social change. The evolution of freestyle kayaking will be used in this account as a means of illustrating this line of sociological thought.
