This paper presents Gramsci's conceptions of civil society and political society in order to warn against the danger of assuming an antithetic vision of the relationship between the State and the civil society in the current cultural policy in Brazil. It then critically examines notions of school autonomy based on conceptions of a civil society able to reproduce itself independently of institutionalized political struggles. Finally, inspired by the Gramscian idea of enlarged State, it points out some ways of analyzing community participation in school administration.
Gramsci; Civil society; Political society; School autonomy