I have argued that Gramsci's contribution to a Marxist theory of culture implied both a concept of field of forces or "force field", in which opposing social groups strive for domination and legitimacy, and a notion of "collective agent", whose practices structure the social world. Culture was historical, political and institutional functioning at both the ideological and action levels. Through Gramsci's theorisation of culture as partially autonomous, it became possible to grasp the rich complexity of "hegemony" allowing for a space in which subordinate groups critically internalised the values of the dominant class while simultaneously generating alternative values essential for social action.