title: Rethinking hegemony as an educative-formative problem: Gramsci, post-Marxism, and radical democracy revisited

authors: Hill, Debbie J.

abstract: There has been a move in recent times to utilize Antonio Gramsci's concept of hegemony as a central feature of a revisionist movement known as 'post-Marxism'. Post-Marxism employs hegemony in support of its thesis of the impossibility of a homogeneous social order. It does this by interpreting the concept as one that encourages society to be viewed as a horizontal space within which is constituted a 'suturing' of various groupings connected agonistically though a shared allegiance to what post-Marxists now call the 'radical' principles of democracy. By their own assessment, the Gramscian concept has thus become fundamental to the theoretical dismissal of the historical aspirations of socialism, prompted no less by their anti-democratic interpretation of Marxist theory with its alleged modernist,essentialist focus. 
This thesis has been written in opposition to this displacement of hegemony from the historical materialist foundations that underpin Gramsci's own distinctive usage of the concept. My opposition centres particularly on the post-Marxist renunciation of the philosophical assumptions upon which socialism is founded, and upon the inevitable loss of the distinctive nuances of hegemony as a concept centring on the problem of the pathological reach of a capitalist epistemology and ontology upon human identity. As I argue within this thesis, it is precisely the impress of capitalism's economic and extra-economic aspect upon humanity's own cognitive and moral capacity - upon its relational and valuational capability – which Gramsci's writings attempted to articulate. In this respect, Gramsci differentiated himself in Marxist circles by the depth of his insights into Marx's historical materialist method and the practical reasoning ('praxis') that this methodology simultaneously engendered. Explaining this method, and the problem of education that this perspective further implies, is therefore the aim of this thesis. As I argue here, his entire written legacy reflects his historical materialist allegiance: the problem of 'education' as no less than the educative-formative problem of practical reasoning. 
In defending Gramsci's own historicist, dialectical and organic worldview, I argue here that the fullest extent of capitalism's sway, and its permeation into every aspect of cultural and social practice, remains seriously under-theorized within post-Marxist discourse: that, rather ironically, the very associational preferences sanctioned by post-Marxist adherents lend further weight to the merits of Gramsci's assessment of the normative power of existing forms of thought to distort mankind's own socio-human potential. As I endeavour to illustrate within this study, Gramsci conceived the problem of 'democracy' as essentially one of overcoming the cognitive and moral submissiveness that pervades our 'normal', everyday worldview. Insofar as this worldview is embedded into the deepest recesses of our language and psychology, Gramsci's historiographical method - that of mapping these multiple aspects of capitalist dominance and social containment and modelling the value of criticality in relation to one's historical and social insights - should be viewed simultaneously as his practice of a new, democratic politics. The work presented here is therefore a study that re-examines and re-clarifies the concept of hegemony in relation to this goal.

text: Rethinking hegemony as an educative-formative problem: Gramsci, post-Marxism, and radical democracy revisited There has been a move in recent times to utilize Antonio Gramsci's concept of hegemony as a central feature of a revisionist movement known as 'post-Marxism'. Post-Marxism employs hegemony in support of its thesis of the impossibility of a homogeneous social order. It does this by interpreting the concept as one that encourages society to be viewed as a horizontal space within which is constituted a 'suturing' of various groupings connected agonistically though a shared allegiance to what post-Marxists now call the 'radical' principles of democracy. By their own assessment, the Gramscian concept has thus become fundamental to the theoretical dismissal of the historical aspirations of socialism, prompted no less by their anti-democratic interpretation of Marxist theory with its alleged modernist,essentialist focus. 
This thesis has been written in opposition to this displacement of hegemony from the historical materialist foundations that underpin Gramsci's own distinctive usage of the concept. My opposition centres particularly on the post-Marxist renunciation of the philosophical assumptions upon which socialism is founded, and upon the inevitable loss of the distinctive nuances of hegemony as a concept centring on the problem of the pathological reach of a capitalist epistemology and ontology upon human identity. As I argue within this thesis, it is precisely the impress of capitalism's economic and extra-economic aspect upon humanity's own cognitive and moral capacity - upon its relational and valuational capability – which Gramsci's writings attempted to articulate. In this respect, Gramsci differentiated himself in Marxist circles by the depth of his insights into Marx's historical materialist method and the practical reasoning ('praxis') that this methodology simultaneously engendered. Explaining this method, and the problem of education that this perspective further implies, is therefore the aim of this thesis. As I argue here, his entire written legacy reflects his historical materialist allegiance: the problem of 'education' as no less than the educative-formative problem of practical reasoning. 
In defending Gramsci's own historicist, dialectical and organic worldview, I argue here that the fullest extent of capitalism's sway, and its permeation into every aspect of cultural and social practice, remains seriously under-theorized within post-Marxist discourse: that, rather ironically, the very associational preferences sanctioned by post-Marxist adherents lend further weight to the merits of Gramsci's assessment of the normative power of existing forms of thought to distort mankind's own socio-human potential. As I endeavour to illustrate within this study, Gramsci conceived the problem of 'democracy' as essentially one of overcoming the cognitive and moral submissiveness that pervades our 'normal', everyday worldview. Insofar as this worldview is embedded into the deepest recesses of our language and psychology, Gramsci's historiographical method - that of mapping these multiple aspects of capitalist dominance and social containment and modelling the value of criticality in relation to one's historical and social insights - should be viewed simultaneously as his practice of a new, democratic politics. The work presented here is therefore a study that re-examines and re-clarifies the concept of hegemony in relation to this goal.

year: 2004

title: Signalled Delay to Reinforcement in Delayed Matching to Sample

authors: Scafturis, Lauren

subjects: Signalled delay to reinforcement

abstract: Five hens were trained on a delayed matching to sample task. The retention intervals started at 0.25 s and were gradually increased until they were   1 s, 2 s, 4 s and 8 s in each session. At the end of training the fifth response to the sample stimulus (red or green square) extinguished the key light and initiated one of the delays which were quasi-randomly selected. At the end of the retention interval the comparison stimuli were presented: a red and a green square. A response to the comparison stimulus that matched the sample stimulus resulted in 3-s access to wheat. An incorrect match resulted in a 3-s blackout. There was then an intertrial interval of 10-s regardless of the trial outcome. Accuracy remained consistently high across all the delays. The percentage of correct responses at the 8-s delay interval remained above 70%. Once behaviour was stable a cue was inserted into the retention interval. The blue key with a cross on it signalled that a correct response would receive reinforcement delayed by 2.5-s. A yellow key with a vertical line on it signalled that a correct response would receive reinforcement immediately. It was hypothesised that signalling a delay to reinforcement would decrease response accuracy on those trials. No differences in response accuracy were found for the different cues indicating that the cue did not affect response behaviour. In the next condition the blue cue now signalled that a correct response would result in 0.5 s access to wheat. The yellow cue now signalled a correct response would be followed by 4.5-s access to wheat. Accuracy for the small and large reinforcer remained the same. Through each condition matching accuracy remained between 60 and 80% regardless of the length of the retention interval. It is thought the gradual increases in retention interval length during training may have been responsible for the maintained high accuracy.

text: Signalled Delay to Reinforcement in Delayed Matching to Sample Five hens were trained on a delayed matching to sample task. The retention intervals started at 0.25 s and were gradually increased until they were   1 s, 2 s, 4 s and 8 s in each session. At the end of training the fifth response to the sample stimulus (red or green square) extinguished the key light and initiated one of the delays which were quasi-randomly selected. At the end of the retention interval the comparison stimuli were presented: a red and a green square. A response to the comparison stimulus that matched the sample stimulus resulted in 3-s access to wheat. An incorrect match resulted in a 3-s blackout. There was then an intertrial interval of 10-s regardless of the trial outcome. Accuracy remained consistently high across all the delays. The percentage of correct responses at the 8-s delay interval remained above 70%. Once behaviour was stable a cue was inserted into the retention interval. The blue key with a cross on it signalled that a correct response would receive reinforcement delayed by 2.5-s. A yellow key with a vertical line on it signalled that a correct response would receive reinforcement immediately. It was hypothesised that signalling a delay to reinforcement would decrease response accuracy on those trials. No differences in response accuracy were found for the different cues indicating that the cue did not affect response behaviour. In the next condition the blue cue now signalled that a correct response would result in 0.5 s access to wheat. The yellow cue now signalled a correct response would be followed by 4.5-s access to wheat. Accuracy for the small and large reinforcer remained the same. Through each condition matching accuracy remained between 60 and 80% regardless of the length of the retention interval. It is thought the gradual increases in retention interval length during training may have been responsible for the maintained high accuracy.

year: 2012

title: From assimilation to biculturalism: Changing patterns in Maori-Pakeha relationships

authors: Thomas, David R.

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: This chapter examines the changing patterns of inter-ethnic relationships among Maori and Pakeha in New Zealand, specifically the moves from assimilation towards biculturalism. The impact of recent debate about the Treaty of Waitangi is described and examples of bicultural policies and their consequences are outlined.

text: From assimilation to biculturalism: Changing patterns in Maori-Pakeha relationships This chapter examines the changing patterns of inter-ethnic relationships among Maori and Pakeha in New Zealand, specifically the moves from assimilation towards biculturalism. The impact of recent debate about the Treaty of Waitangi is described and examples of bicultural policies and their consequences are outlined.

year: 1996