Antonio Gramsci, 1891–1937
is the philosophic and sociological
concept, originated by the
Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci, denoting that a culturally-diverse society can be ruled (dominated), by one of its
social classes. It is the dominance of one social group over another, i.e. the
ruling class over all other classes. The ideas of the ruling class come to be seen as the
norm; they are seen as universal
ideologies, perceived to benefit everyone whilst only really benefiting the ruling class.
Cultural Hegemony: Gramsci’s theory
For
Karl Marx, a capitalist society’s economic recessions and practical contradictions would provoke the
working class to
revolution in deposing capitalism — and then to restructuring the existing institutions (economic, political, social) per rational,
socialist models; thus, beginning the transition to a
communist society. In Marxian terms, the society’s dialectically-changing economy determines its cultural and political superstructures, i.e. its social and economic classes. Despite Marx and
Friedrich Engels having predicted said
eschatological scenario in 1848, decades later, the workers — the economic core of an industrialised society — had yet to effect it.
To understand this, Gramsci posits a
strategic distinction, between a
War of Position and a
War of Manoeuvre. The war of position is intellectual, a
culture war in which the anti-capitalist politicians (communist leaders sponsors, socialist scholars and ideological subversionist) seek to have the dominant voice in the mass media, other mass organisations, and the schools(and actively do ideological subversion). Once achieved, this position will be used to increase
class consciousness, teach revolutionary theory and analysis, and to inspire revolutionary organisation(
demoralization). On winning the intellectual war of position, communist leaders would then have the necessary political power and popular support to begin the
war of manoeuvre — the
armed insurrection against capitalism.
Although
cultural domination was first analysed in
economic class terms, it is broadly applicable to
social class. Gramsci suggested that prevailing
cultural norms must not be perceived as either “natural” and “inevitable”, but, that said
cultural norms (
institutions,
practices,
beliefs) must be investigated for their roots in societal domination and their implications for societal
liberation.
Cultural hegemony is neither monolithic nor unified, rather it is a complex of layered
social structures (classes). Each has a “mission” (purpose) and an internal logic, allowing its members to behave in a particular way that is different from that of the members of the other social classes, while also coexisting with these other classes. Because of their different social missions, the classes will be able to coalesce into a greater whole, a
society, with a greater social mission. This greater, societal mission is different from the specific missions of the individual classes, because it assumes and includes them to itself, the whole.
Likewise, does
cultural hegemony work; although each person in a society meaningfully lives life in his or her social class, society’s discrete classes might appear to have little in common with the life of an individual person. However, perceived as a whole, each person’s life contributes to the greater society’s hegemony. Diversity, variation, and freedom will apparently exist, since most people “see” many different life circumstances; but they are incapable of perceiving the greater hegemonic pattern created when the lives they themselves witness coalesce into a “society”. Through the existence of minor, different circumstances, a greater, layered hegemony is maintained, not fully recognized by most of the people living in it.
In a layered cultural hegemony, personal "
common sense" maintains a dual structural role. Each individual utilizes this "common sense" to cope with their daily life and explain to themselves the small segment of the
social order they come to witness in the course of this life. However, because it is by nature limited in focus, common sense also inhibits the ability to perceive the greater, systemic nature of socio-economic exploitation that cultural hegemony makes possible. People concentrate their attention upon their
immediate concerns and problems in their personal lives, rather than upon the
fundamental sources of their social and economic
oppression.
Gramsci’s intellectual influence
Although the concept of Cultural Hegemony has primarily been used by
leftists, organized conservative social organizations (movements) also have used it in their politics. An example, in the US of the 1990s, were the efforts of
evangelical Christian organizations to win election onto local school boards in order to have the power to dictate curricula aligned with their religious interpretation of what constitutes a proper
public education. To wit, in 1992, at the
Republican Convention, the rightist politician
Patrick Buchanan addressed the conventioneers using the term
Culture War in describing his perception of US politics, as being the socio-political struggle between conservatism and liberalism.
As a theory, Cultural Hegemony has deeply influenced
Eurocommunism, the
social sciences, and
activist politics. In the social sciences, its theoretic application in examining major
discourses (e.g. those posited by
Michel Foucault) is an important aspect of
sociology,
political science,
anthropology, and
cultural studies; moreover, in education the concepts of cultural hegemony led to the development of
critical pedagogy and technique of communist ideological subversion of West Democracy.
The 'International Gramsci Society' (IGS) was founded in October 1989 at the International conference "Gramsci nel mondo" held in Formia, Italy . Exactly in the time that supposedly European Communist party collapsed and Russians start disseminating information about a "Soviet discontinuity" in 1989-91 Society is International ideological thinktank.
The aim of the International Gramsci Society is to facilitate communication and the exchange of information among the very large number of marxist individuals from all over the world who are interested in Antonio Gramsci's life and work and in the presence of his hegemonic thought in culture. http://www.internationalgramscisociety.org/
Society organizes an international conference every few years. IGS conferences provide the occasion for an extensive examination of the status of Gramsci's hegemony influence in contemporary culture, the diversity of Gramscian studies, the various directions in which the interpretations and the uses of Gramsci's ideas and categories have been developing and provide IGS members with the opportunity to collectively plan the work of the Society and give its organizational structure a more permanent and solid form. IGS Newsletter in both paper and electronic form. All back issues of the 'IGS Newsletter' are available in an online searchable HTML format and as downloadable Adobe Acrobat Reader at.pdf files and 'International Gramsci Journal', is published by University of Wollongong NSW 2522 Australia http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/research/gramsci-journal/
a peer-reviewed, biannual electronic journal. The IGS Coordinating Committee is (2007) composed of a 10 members from United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia, United States, Mexico, Italy, Japan. A number of individuals who represent various geo-cultural areas and who collaborate with the secretary in gathering and disseminating information of interest to Society 'RethinkingMarxism'http://rethinkingmarxism.org/cms/ a journal of economics,culture & society Print ISSN 0893-5696 Online ISSN 1475-8059 from 1988, Marxist journal who have demonstrated significance of Gramsci's Marxist traditions and sponsoring four international gala conferences, and its sponsoring organization, the 'Association for Economic and Social Analysis' http://www.einet.net/review/1302-869793/Rethinking_Marxism_Association_for_Economic_and_Social_Analysis_Home_Page.htm
Contemporary political analysis: cultural hegemony’s influence
In political analysis, cultural hegemony is a much-applied analytic model. For example, an analysis of US political power from 1932 to 2006 addresses the dynamics of class struggle and cultural hegemony, documenting that the 1930s increase in trade union membership helped create the
Democratic Party’s wide, popular base of political support. This situation was maintained until 1980, when the Republican Party successfully learned to appeal to the working class by means of the
Southern Strategy, first articulated in the late 1960s during the electoral campaigns of Richard M. Nixon.
See also
- James C. Scott, Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts (1990), contests “cultural hegemony” with “hidden transcript” vs. “public transcript”
