Gramsci borrowed his concept of hegemony from Lenin, using it to theorize that a "ruling group" ...must "govern through a balance of force and persuasion" (McGowan &
McGowan, 2004, p. 12).
In discussing intellectuals,Antonio
Gramsci gives a clear definition of hegemony in a note to his sister in law, Tatiana. He said it is "a balance between the political Society and civil Society or hegemony of a social group over the entire national society, exercised through the so-called private organizations, such as the Church, the unions, the schools" (
Gramsci 1994c. ). Hegemony is thus an ideological dominance of society, in which the subordinate levels of society allow the ruling class to exercise social and economic dominance, with the consent of the subordinate classes in the support of the common good.
That the concept of hegemony works is evident in that
marxism has been able to flourish in the Western Capitalist world and
Gramsci's theory of hegemony has been explored further by
Althuser,
Laclau and Chomsky .
Issues with hegemony appear to revolve around the term
consent, or how " one defines consent" (McGowan
et al, 2004). This is a fascinating subject. Given the all consuming day to day issues of life, are the
subordinate classes even aware they have given their consent?
In
Gramsci's view,
political forces aiming at social change can only gain the upper hand if they are able to mobilize and take charge in society on their own premises (
Englestad, 2003).
An example of consent via gentle persuasion and enforcement (force) of a national cultural perspective, could be found in the New Zealand anti-smoking stance, or "Smoke Free New Zealand." Via the media, government departments and places of learning, smoking has been labeled so socially evil, that the idea of smoking in public has become shameful and socially unacceptable. The prohibitive cost of tobacco is
punitive and laws have been passed to enforce where people may smoke. (Force). I would argue that the cultural
ideology of a smoke free
society in New Zealand has been introduced in a
hegemonistic way.
References
Englestad, F. (Ed.). (2003). Introductory chapter. In Power,culture,hegemony. Introduction to comparative social research (Vol. 21) . Oxford: Elsevier science. Retrieved January 15, 2008, from Institute for social research Web site http://www.samfunnsforskning.no/page/Publications//7982/20307-8255.html
Gramsci, A. (1994). 1994c. In F. Rosengarten (Ed.), R. Rosenthal (Trans.),Letters from prison (Vol. 2,p.67).New York: Columbia University Press.
McGowan, A., & Mcgowan, K. (2004). Ideology. In A critical and cultural theory reader (2nd ed., p. 35). Maidenhead, England: Open University Press.
