Can Antonio Gramsci’s ideas still help us make sense of—and perhaps change—the contemporary media landscape?
Since the 1980s, the Western media world has undergone profound shifts: growing concentration of media outlets among a few oligarchs, the spread of authoritarian narratives, the rise of far-right influencers and the increasing subordination of journalism to market forces have all reshaped the dynamics of cultural and political power.
In this context, Gramsci’s thought offers essential tools for analyzing and rethinking the role of the media in building hegemony and shaping public opinion.
The international conference “What About the Media? Gramscian Perspectives on Media in a Counter-Revolutionary Epoch”, organized by the Gramsci Research Collective, proposes a collective reflection on the continuing relevance of Gramsci’s ideas for understanding today’s media system.
Ranging from political theory and popular culture, scholars from different backgrounds will examine how media participate in both the construction and the crisis of hegemony.
A Marxist theorist and journalist, Gramsci was among the first to recognize the strategic role of media in shaping cultural and political hegemony. In his Prison Notebooks, he analyzed journalism, literature, and the arts as vehicles through which power relations are expressed and sustained. His insights remain vital today for understanding how media operate—and for imagining their potential as spaces of resistance and transformation.
The conference will be held in person at the Italian Cultural Institute of Montreal on October 27–28, 2025.