Newsletter - International Gramsci Society

Gramsci, present important consonances with the Cultural-Historical School
founded by the Soviet psychologist Vygotsky and hence with the concept of
Tätigkeit (Activity) as it is developed by this psychological school.
I have deemed it useful to concentrate this paper on Gramsci’s ideas
in order to facilitate the remarks, about the posed problem, of the
psychologists well versed in their own field of research, hypothesizing that
these ideas of Gramsci’s can give rise to a comparison of different
psychological theories and in this way contribute to the progress of
psychology.
The body of the essay is divided into three sections: 1) “Introduction: meaning and
importance of the problem of common sense in Gramsci”; 2) “Essential points concerning
the problem of common sense in Gramsci”—which takes a close look at certain passages
from the Quaderni; 3) “Hypothesis on the relevance to psychology of Gramsci’s thought
and on the relation of praxis-Tätigkeit.
Francesco Paolo Colluci also wrote an essay that provides a description and a detailed
critical analysis of the presentations made at the international symposium held in Bologna.
This essay has been published: “Il pensiero di Antonio Gramsci e la psicologia oggi” in
Psicologia e Società. Rivista di Psicologia Sociale / Psychology and Society. Review of
Social Psychology, XX (XLI), 1-2 (1993), pp. 95-129. Professor Colucci has kindly
furnished us with an English version of this essay—we will publish extensive extracts from it
in the next issue of the IGS Newsletter.
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