Hegemony

Italian activist/thinker Antonio Gramsci (1891 - 1937) introduced concept of cultural hegemony.  He was one of the most important Marxist thinkers of the 20th century.  He died at age 46 after being released from a prison sentence in conjunction with the accusation of an attempted assassination of Mussolini.
Gramsci expanded upon Lenin's ideals about hegemony with a thorough analysis of why the Marxist revolution of the proletariat had not yet happened despite the prediction of it

Need to read more about this.  Read Prison Notebooks. 

Relevance to FSS - Edward Said quotes Gramsci extensively in his introduction to Orientalism (1978).  Here, Said discusses Gramsci's theory of cultural hegemony (a process of moral and intellectual leadership through which both dominant and subordinate classes consent to their respective roles as opposed to being forced or coerced into that role) as a way to discuss the structure of the West's need to understand/dominate that which they view as Oriental. 

Seems to me that Said's use of Gramsci is a bit radical.  Especially because he is speaking about Orientalism as a construct of the West, and western thought/literature/imagery, that continues to perpetuate and inform the West's understanding of the Orient.  This relationship does not seem to be one where both parties are informed about their role and consenting.  In fact, Said expounds that this is not the case at all - that the occupants of the Orient in the eyes of the West fully created and controlled by Western observations as a fulfillment of some fantasy that defines the West as significant and powerful. 

Need to read more.