Traditional Marxists often argue that the economic base (infrastructure) determines the cultural and political superstructure. Gramsci rejected this economic determinism, asserting that the superstructure has a relative autonomy and a powerful, active role in maintaining the status quo [citation:5]. He argued that the ruling class secures power not just through economic control, but by establishing its own moral and intellectual worldview as the common-sense norm of society. This makes revolution a cultural and ideological battle, not just an economic one.

The *Prison Notebooks* are a collection of over 30 notebooks and thousands of pages of writing that Gramsci produced during his incarceration in a fascist prison from 1926 to 1937. Despite severe censorship and physical hardship, he wrote extensively on Italian history, philosophy, and Marxist theory [citation:3]. They are considered his magnum opus, containing his most famous concepts like hegemony, the role of intellectuals, and the distinction between a 'war of position' and a 'war of maneuver' in revolutionary strategy.

Gramsci's concept of hegemony is highly applicable to modern politics. He argued that a ruling class maintains its power through a 'war of position,' winning cultural and ideological battles in civil society institutions like media, education, and religion [citation:5]. Today, this manifests in debates over media bias, the influence of think tanks, and the struggle over 'common sense' on social media. Achieving political change requires first challenging and winning this cultural struggle.

Gramsci distinguished between 'traditional intellectuals' (like clergy or professors) who see themselves as autonomous, and 'organic intellectuals' who emerge from a specific social class and give it coherence and political consciousness [citation:1]. For Gramsci, every class creates its own organic intellectuals. In his view, the working class's struggle for hegemony requires building its own organic intellectuals to develop an alternative worldview and challenge the dominant culture's leadership.

Gramsci is central to Western Marxism because he revitalized a tradition that had become overly focused on economic determinism. By emphasizing the role of culture, ideology, and psychology in maintaining power, he provided a more nuanced and sophisticated account of why revolutions had failed in the West, unlike in Russia [citation:3]. His work opened up Marxism to other disciplines like sociology, cultural studies, and political science, making his ideas foundational for many contemporary critical theories.