Critical Sociology 39(4) 561–591 © The Author(s) 2012 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0896920512437391 crs.sagepub.com Theorist of Subaltern Subjectivity: Antonio Gramsci, Popular Beliefs, Political Passion, and Reciprocal Learning Jean-Pierre Reed Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, USA Abstract Some recent positions on Antonio Gramsci portray him as a vanguardist who outright rejects common sense and popular culture as playing a role in counter-hegemony or political resistance. This manuscript seeks to provide a corrective to these recent portrayals. It does so by accurately evaluating Gramsci’s position on the dialectical relationship subaltern (popular) beliefs have to counter-hegemony; by considering his bottom-up stance on the relationship organic intellectuals have to the subaltern; by focusing on his cutting edge position on ideological articulation; and in light of his articulations regarding the role of subaltern passion and subaltern-centered pedagogy for counter-hegemony. As a way to illustrate the significance of the subaltern for counter- hegemony, the potential of popular religion for counter-hegemony is explored. Keywords counter-hegemony, political passion, popular beliefs, subaltern pedagogy Introduction Despite noteworthy contributions by Grasmcian (Adamson, 1980, 1985; Billings, 1990; Fontana, 1993; Fulton, 1987; Holub, 1992) and Leftist (Aronowitz, 1990; Bennett, 1986; Larrain, 1983; Mouffe, 1981; and Turner, 1996) scholars in the English-speaking world, Antonio Gramsci remains misunderstood as a theoretical figure. In his magnum opus, Prison Notebooks, Gramsci sets out to theoretically formulate a counter-hegemonic strategy out of capitalist domination. 1 A central posi- tion that he advances in this work is the need to develop a referential and critical relationship between the philosophy of praxis (Gramsci’s term for Marxism) and popular beliefs (i.e. common sense or the philosophy of the people or non-philosophers, including popular religion) as a Corresponding author: Jean-Pierre Reed, Department of Sociology, Faner Hall - Mail Code 4524, 1000 Faner Drive, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA. Email: reedjp@siu.edu 437391CRS 0 0 10.1177/0896920512437391ReedCritical Sociology 2012 Article