Skip to main content

Concept of Cultural Hegemony According to Antonio Gramsci

When Antonio Gramsci talks about hegemony, he refers to the hegemony of a specific “dominant social group or groups” over the whole society...


It was the Italian Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci who introduced the concept of “cultural hegemony”.

In the Selections from the Prison Notebooks (1999), Gramsci argued that power is based on the presence of two elements: force and consensus.  If force triumphs over consensus, dominion is obtained.  On the other hand, if consensus prevails, hegemony exists. Thus, for Gramsci, hegemony is grounded essentially on consensus.  And this consensus is achieved by means of persuasion.  Persuasion in all its forms is thereby used to convince that a specific political or cultural idea is better than the others or is “the only way” to view the world. 

It is noteworthy to emphasize that  hegemony, for Gramsci, is the hegemony of a specific “dominant social group or groups” over the whole society, applied  through the various structures or organizations, like the church, schools or labor parties.  Hegemony in this case means the success of the “dominant social group(s)” in presenting their definition of “reality” or their vision of the world, in a manner that is accepted and considered by other social groups as “common sense.”  The other groups look at this “common sense” as the “right way” of viewing the world. 

Hegemony involves not only political ideas, but, most important of all, cultural ideas and norms.  According to Gramsci, both the dominant groups and subordinated classes are persistently struggling for dominance with regards to the definitions of reality or ideologies.  The dominant groups try to include ideas and behaviors within the terms they themselves lay down in line with their interests.  In contrast, the subordinate groups struggle to preserve and to continue in insisting the legitimacy of their own perception of reality.  For the dominant groups, the function of this continuous struggle is to form a collective consensus, capable of transforming the society at their advantage. 

Gramsci also emphasized that in order to implement hegemony, the interests and the tendencies of the subordinate groups should be considered and that a certain compromise should be maintained between the dominant groups and the subordinate groups. 

 When I think of hegemony, the first thing that comes into my mind is the “hegemony” of the Catholicism in all aspects of everyday life.  I believe that this is the most prevailing type, because it embraces how we, its devotees, consider family, social relationships, values and principles in life.  It affects our unconscious mind, our whole ideological identity.  

As Catholic devotees, our perception of reality is based on the Catholicism’s definition of reality, and when we see people doing the opposite thing or things different from “the way we do things”, we tend to label them as “weird” or “strange”.  For this reason, any group who present an alternative view of the world is  likely to be marginalized.  

Comments

  1. The Packerland Broadband Speed Test shows the action for key elements in your internet association which is a comprehensive download test, transfer test, jitter test, idleness test, wifi speed test and ping test. In the event that Packerland Broadband internet speed test gives the outcome underneath your assumptions, you may either attempt the different investigating techniques or reset the switch by your own to further develop the association speed. On the off chance that it doesn't sort out at your end, you might call up the Packerland Broadband internet specialist co-op for example Packerland Broadband client assistance or Packerland Broadband client service.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Importance of Communication Models in Communication for Development

Communication models and approaches facilitate the work of practitioners... Communication models are conceptual models used to explain and describe the human communication . Communication models, approaches and theories are the foundation around which development communication practitioners build ideas on how to effectively transmit the message they would like to convey to the target audience. Communication models and approaches facilitate the work of practitioners because they provide ideas on how individuals react to different types of communication stimulus, the possible consequences that may result when participants in a communication process employ a communication style or shift to another communication style. In addition, communication models and approaches provide practitioners an idea on how to obtain engagement, collaboration and participation from the target audience in order to achieve communication goals. Communication models, approaches and theories are v

Definition and Assumptions of the Uses and Gratification Theory

The uses and gratification theory marked a perspective shift in the study of mass communication... Framed by Elihu Katz, Jay Blumler, and Michael Gurevitch in the 1970’s, the uses and gratification theory marked a perspective shift in the study of mass communication by turning its attention away from media sources and message and how they affect the audience [1].  Blumler and Katz’s uses and gratification theory considers, instead, the audience not a passive but an active player in their  media choices, and that these choices depend largely on media users’ apparent needs, wishes or motives [2], and that audiences are thereby formed based on their similarities of wishes, needs and motives.   E lihu Katz [3] first introduced the uses and gratification perspective when he came up with the idea that individuals make use of media to their advantage.   This perspective surfaced in the 1970’s when Blumler and Gurevitch persisted in expanding the idea.   Blumler and Katz