“We can’t let the monsters win,” influencers earnestly warn their followers on Instagram; on LinkedIn, business consultants post graphs that visualise the “Gramsci gap” and its relevance to corporate strategy. It evokes Goya’s famous etching The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters as much as contemporary pop culture. However, when approached about why he had chosen to poetically refashion the original Italian, Žižek insisted the monsters were not his. View image in fullscreen The quote evokes Goya’s famous etching The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters as much as contemporary pop culture. Photograph: Madison Swart/ReutersThe “time of monsters” quote may have captured the minds of politicians and thinkers of today but many feel it strips Gramsci of the activist zeal that he embodied for previous generations.

Source: The Guardian February 14, 2026 15:31 UTC