ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on the fundamental components of Gramsci's Marxism: the assertion of absolute historicism and humanism over economic determinism, the primacy of ideological over political hegemony, and the subjective over the objective dimension in Marxist theory. It also focuses on the relationship between knowledge, ideology and political praxis and between Marxism and sociology in order to delineate the basic framework of sociology within Marxist theory. The book discusses the role of intellectuals in the development of history and the process of formation of hegemonic systems is central in Gramsci's thought. The book analyzes the controversial notion of 'hegemony', which will be understood in the present study as the unity of structure and superstructure, theory and praxis, masses and intellectuals, civil and political society. The book examines the superstructural character of science, the notion of objectivity in the sciences of nature, history and culture.
