Eco and Gramsci: Unexplored Connections in Cultural Studies

Abstract

Although its relevance is widely recognised, the contribution of Umberto Eco’s semiotic theory and cultural analyses to the field of Cultural Studies has yet to be studied extensively. This article claims that Eco’s appropriation of the legacy of Antonio Gramsci, forerunner of Cultural Studies, plays a key role in this contribution. The connections between Eco and Gramsci have gone almost unexplored despite them being two key figures in the development of Italian critical theory. These connections can be found in their shared interests in mass culture and the role of the intellectual in mass society. This article highlights how, in his work of the 1960s and 1970s, Eco de-ideologises Gramsci and substantiates his cultural analyses through the methodologies of structuralism and interpretative semiotics.