ABSTRACT
This chapter elaborates the relationship between subjectivity and the political by examining a constellation of concepts (individuality, personality, conformism) deployed by Antonio Gramsci to articulate his conception of subjectivity in his prison writings. Beginning with a characterization of his predominantly pre-intentional notion of 'subjectivity' and its inseparability from 'objectivity' in his thought, the chapter examines Gramsci's conceptual shift from the language of subjects to that of persons and a theory of personality. Locating the foundation of this move in his 'politico-gnoseological' theory of the 'effective reality of human relations of knowledge', it then briefly outlines the relationship between this theme and his wider conceptual framework (hegemony, ideology, common sense, etc.). On this basis, the chapter focuses on recent scholarship to focus in more detail on the relationship between the individual and society in Gramsci's Notebooks, exploring the distinctive conception of personality that emerges from his theory.
