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“It was Gramsci who, in the late twenties and thirties, with the rise of fascism and the failure of the Western European working-class movements, began to consider why the working class was not necessarily revolutionary, why it could, in fact, yield to fascism.” (Gitlin, 1994: 516)
The concept of hegemony
The term comes from the term hegemony of Greece, hegeisthai ( "to lead?). The concept of hegemony is widely used by sociologists to explain the phenomenon of an attempt to retain power by the authorities. Authorities here have a broad sense, not just limited to the state authorities (government).
Hegemony can be defined as: the domination by one group against another group, with or without the threat of violence, so that the ideas dictated by the dominant group to dominated groups accepted as natural (common sense). See also the following definition:
Hegemony is the dominance of one group over other groups, with or without the threat of force, to the extent that, for instance, the dominant party can dictate the terms of trade to its advantage; more broadly, cultural perspectives become skewed to favor the dominant group. Hegemony controls the ways that ideas become “naturalized” in a process that informs notions of common sense (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony)
“…Dominant groups in society, including fundamentally but not exclusively the ruling class, maintain their dominance by securing the ’spontaneous consent’ of subordinate groups, including the working class, through the negotiated construction of a political and ideological consensus which incorporates both dominant and dominated groups.” (Strinati, 1995: 165)
We can conclude that:
In hegemony, which dominates the group was able to persuade the dominated group to accept the moral values, politics, and culture of the dominant group (the ruling party, the ruling group). Hegemony accepted as something normal, so that the ideology of the dominant group may spread and practiced. Values and ideological hegemony is pursued and defended by the dominant parties so that the party remained dominated and obedient to the leadership of a ruling class.
Hegemony can be seen as a strategy to retain power
"... The practices of a capitalist class or its representatives to gain state power and maintain it later." (Simon, 1982: 23) If viewed as a strategy, the concept of hegemony is not exclusive to the ruling strategy. That is, any group can apply the concept of hegemony and become the ruler. For example hegemony, is the power of American dollars to the global economy. Most international transactions conducted with American dollars.
Formation Hegemony
Gramsci (1891-1937) was a famous figure in the analysis hegemony. Gramsci's analysis is an improvement to the concept of economic determinism and dialectical history of Karl Marx (see Marx's Das Capital).
In the history of Marx's dialectic, the capitalist system will produce the working class in large numbers and the economic recession. In the end, there will be a revolution of the workers (proletariat) who will give birth to a system of socialism. In other words, capitalism, socialism will bear. However, this does not happen.
Gramsci took the argument that the failure was caused by ideology, values, self-awareness, and organization of the workers drowned by the hegemony of the ruler (the bourgeoisie). This occurs through the hegemony of mass media, schools, even through a sermon or religious propaganda, which did indoctrination that caused a new awareness for the workers. Instead of revolution, the workers instead of thinking to improve the status of the middle class, able to follow the popular culture, and imitating the behavior or the bourgeois class lifestyle. This all is an illusion created by the rulers who dominated for the loss of ideology and identity as a free man.
In order for the workers to create hegemony, Gramsci provides 2 ways (Strinati, 1995), namely through the "war of position? (War position) and the" war of movement "(war movement). War is the position supported by the mass media propaganda, building strategic alliances with the line hurt, liberation education through schools that increase self-awareness and social. Characteristics:
• Long struggle
• Priority to the struggle within the system
• Struggle directed towards the cultural and ideological domination
War movement is done by direct attacks (frontal), certainly with the support of the masses. War movement after the war could be carried out position, may not.
Source :
Gitlin, Todd (1979), ‘Prime time ideology: the hegemonic process in television entertainment’, in Newcomb, Horace, ed. (1994), Television: the critical view – Fifth Edition, Oxford University Press, New York.
Simon, Roger (1991), Gramsci’s Political Thought: An introduction, Lawrence and Wishart, London.
Strinati, Dominic (1995), An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture, Routledge, London.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony
