Antonio Gramsci and his relevance to the education of adults

Abstract

In his scattered and often cryptic writings appearing as political pamphlets, journalistic pieces, cultural reviews, letters from prison and, most particularly, those notes from the same prison that were intended as the foundation for a comprehensive work für ewig (for eternity), Antonio Gramsci provides elements for a large allembracing educational strategy. This strategy is intended to engender an ‘intellectual and moral reform’ of a scale that, in his view, would render it the most radical reform since primitive Christianity (Festa, 1976). Educational programmes targeting adults featured prominently in this all-embracing educational strategy. To appreciate the importance of the education of adults in this context, one should highlight some key features of Gramsci’s social theory.