I'm a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.

Instead he divides it between 'political society' (the police the army legal system etc. These writings known as the Prison Notebooks contain Gramsci's tracing of Italian history and nationalism as well as some ideas in Marxist theory critical theory and educational theory associated with his name such as:
Cultural hegemony as a means of maintaining and legitimising the capitalist state. On 21 January 1921 in the town of Livorno (Leghorn) the Communist Party of Italy (Partito Comunista d'Italia – PCI) was founded.

He is renowned for his concept of cultural hegemony as a means of maintaining the state in a capitalist society. His writings are heavily concerned with the analysis of culture and political leadership and he is notable as a highly original thinker within modern European thought.