The most important concept of Gramscianism developed by this Italian thinker’s followers is counter-hegemony. From the point of view of Gramscianism, if there is hegemony – the mold – then there might be a cure for this mold; if there is capital, then there may be non-capital; if there is one historical vector, there may be another historical vector. This is Gramscianism’s deepest love of freedom. It says: "Even if this hegemony permeates all the opportunities that open up, if hegemony is fatal and total, this does not mean that it is impossible to break its neck."
So, we understand hegemony as the historical power of some collection of symbiotic life forms, as a kind of global entity that cannot be eliminated even if we destroy the state. Hegemony for Gramsci is an absolute evil. But the fatality and totality of hegemony does not for Gramsci mean the invincibility and mechanical inevitability of its triumph.
Hegemony can be defeated, but there must be another subject to do this. And this subject should be no less fundamental than the subject of hegemony; it must also have a historical basis; it must have an ideological dimension; it must have a metaphysical dimension; it must be social, economic, cultural. The subject of counter-hegemony must have all those dimensions on which hegemony operates.
Counter-hegemony is a full-spectrum symmetrical response. If there is Elton John, there must be our counter-hegemonic performer; if there is a professor coming from the standpoint of hegemony, there must be a professor from counter-hegemony; a hegemonic economic model must be opposed by a counter-hegemonic economic model. Thus, the creation of the counter-hegemonic subject is a fundamental goal.