Hegemony

Dimensions of Culture class since I last wrote you. One topic emphasized recently has been the concept of counter-hegemony, which, intuitively, is defined as opposing the existing hegemony. In layman 's terms, a hegemony simply refers to the status quo engrained into the constructs of a society. Many of the standards which we label to be “common-sense” or “normal” are truly just hegemony in application. To clarify, counter-hegemonic movements do not, and cannot, remove hegemonic power entirely…

Escaping Cultural Hegemony & The Philosophy of Praxis One of the lingering questions about cultural hegemony I have is “How do we end it?” or, at the very least, in what ways can we remove ourselves from the apparatus of cultural hegemony and attempt to potentially dismantle it? From Gramsci’s perspective the answer is, of course, the philosophy of praxis. The concept of the philosophy of praxis contains heavy Marxist undertones – which no doubt serves the purpose of invigorating the working…

POLITICAL HEGEMONY This week’s readings start with Antonio Gramsci who was a very influential Marxist theorist and politician that his ideas are still relevant today. Gramsci followed the Marx but he added much more to the Marxist tradition in terms of explaining why Western societies didn’t experience the revolution. He introduced the concepts of civil and political society as two main parts of the superstructure and most importantly he defined hegemony as the mixture of coercion and consent.…

In Abu-Lughod’s “Before European Hegemony”, Abu-Lughod states the notable powers within all the regions world during the thirteenth century were all on par with one another as trade routes ensured all would see the same amount and flow of exchanges across all continents with the exception…

media has become so universally pervasive that its ideology and commodification are all but naturalized in our society. By exploring concepts of hegemony, commodification and ideology, social media serves as a lens to demonstrate the influence and power of this medium in a capitalist society. The commonplace use of ideology is in reference to set…

the Jewish community on Hester Street, the woman’s dependent role is imposed by hegemony rather than brute force. The oppressor can appear kind because the lack of violence also leads to a lack of response to the intangible abuse. Omi and Winant use Antonio Gramsci’s theory of hegemony to explain why using the people’s will against them is an effective way to maintain control. He [Antonio Gramsci], argued that hegemony was always constituted by a combination of coercion and consent. Although…

far and wide, and with them comes the ugly institution of ‘cultural hegemony’, wherein indigenous cultures are manipulated into sacrificing their thoughts and their tongues in favor of more attractive and “progressive” Western alternatives. A major reason for this is teaching students in English instead of in their native language, which results in them…

In Karen Armstrong’s passage titled “Homo religiosus”, she takes a spiritual approach writing about the indispensability of religion in ancient cultures. In contrast to Armstrong’s text, in her essay “Biographies of Hegemony”, Karen Ho writes about the cut-throat reality of Wall Street that mirrors the ancient religious rituals in a modern day environment. In a similar approach to Ho’s, in his text titled “Son”, Andrew Solomon writes a modern narrative describing his life struggles as a gay…

pull the rug out from under their feet. As history has shown the transition of a new power into and global supremacy is wrought with violence, uncertainty, and fear - a time of chaos and pointless bloodshed. China’s attempt to subvert the American hegemony and place itself at the center of world affairs are the greatest threat to world peace in our century…

“Biographies of Hegemony,” Karen ho illustrates the damaging effects of oppression while showing how students facing this…