The Definitive Gramsci Dictionary: Concepts and Contexts

by Efe Can Gürcan

Antonio Gramsci remains one of the most influential figures in modern critical thought, whose work continues to shape foundational debates across political theory, sociology, history, cultural studies, and political economy.

This dictionary offers a conceptually rigorous guide to Gramsci’s thought without reducing it to a closed or static system. Rather than encyclopedic coverage, it adopts a strategically selective approach, focusing on the core categories that situates each theme within the relational and historical logic of his work.

By foregrounding Gramsci’s engagement with China, anti-colonial struggles, and the historical construction of East–West categories, the volume also dismantles the enduring myth of Gramsci as a Eurocentric thinker and presents his framework as a materialist, anti-orientalist theory of global modernity and hegemony. Additionally, it challenges reductive Eurocommunist and Western Marxist readings that narrow Gramsci to a mere theorist of consent within advanced Western democracies.

Combining analytical rigor with clarity and contextual grounding, the dictionary is accessible to readers newly engaging with Gramsci and equally rewarding for advanced scholars, as it revisits underexplored themes such as historical becoming, intellectualism, methodology, and China, alongside key questions of culture and power.

Presenting Gramsci as a living theoretical resource rather than a closed canon, this volume offers a concise, but analytically rich framework for understanding his work.