Nicos Poulantzas

Borrowing from Antonio Gramsci's notion of cultural hegemony, Poulantzas argued that repressing movements of the oppressed is not the sole function of the state. Rather, state power must also obtain the consent of the oppressed. It does this through class alliances, where the dominant group makes an "alliance" with subordinate groups as a means to obtain the consent of the subordinate group. In his later works, Poulantzas analysed the role of what he termed the "new petty bourgeoisie" in both consolidating the ruling classes hegemony and undermining the proletariat's ability to organise itself. By occupying a contradictory class position—that is to say, by identifying with its de facto oppressor—this fraction of the working class throws its lot in with the bourgeois whose fate it (wrongly) believes it shares. The fragmentation (some would argue the demise) of the class system is, for Poulantzas, a defining characteristic of late capitalism, and any politically useful analysis must tackle this new constellation of interests and power. A highly abbreviated example of this can be seen in a Poulantzas-influenced analysis of the New Deal in the United States: the American ruling class, by acceding to some of the demands of labour (things like minimum wage, labour laws, etc.), helped cement an alliance between labour and a particular fraction of capital and the state (Levine 1988). This was necessary for the continued existence of capitalism, for if the ruling class had simply repressed the movements and avoided making any concessions, it could have led to a socialist revolution.

Poulantzas studied law in Greece and moved to France in 1961; there he completed a doctorate in the philosophy of law under the title The rebirth of natural Law in Germany (La renaissance du droit naturel en Allemagne) in 1964. He taught sociology at the University of Paris VIII from 1968 until his death. He was married to the French novelist Annie Leclerc [fr] and had one daughter. He committed suicide in 1979 by jumping from the window of a friend's flat in Paris.

Nicos Poulantzas (Greek: Νίκος Πουλαντζάς [ˈnikos pulanˈd͡zas]; 21 September 1936 – 3 October 1979) was a Greek-French Marxist political sociologist and philosopher. In the 1970s, Poulantzas was known, along with Louis Althusser, as a leading structural Marxist; while at first a Leninist, he eventually became a proponent of democratic socialism. He is best known for his theoretical work on the state, but he also offered Marxist contributions to the analysis of fascism, social class in the contemporary world, and the collapse of dictatorships in Southern Europe in the 1970s (such as Francisco Franco's rule in Spain, António de Oliveira Salazar's in Portugal, and Georgios Papadopoulos' in Greece).