The cultural hegemony or hegemonic culture refers to the action of turning a dominant culture in relation to others. This culture is considered the only one accepted in a given society.
Hegemony is a word that derives from the Greek and means "to be the guide", "to lead" or "to be the boss". The origin of the eghemonian verb, whose meaning is "guide" or "lead", is also considered.
This verb also derives "to govern" or "to be in front", which can be associated with the political and military sphere.
This term can be used in different situations. For example, a group of nations can exercise hegemony because they are important economic, political or military powers.
What he achieves with this is to exert that influence on other territories. When we speak of world hegemony, it refers to the domination of the world promoted by a nation.
Cultural hegemony
This term was developed by Antonio Gramsci, journalist, writer, philosopher, pedagogue and politician of the early 20th century. The purpose was to study the different social classes and their structure.
Gramsci suggested that the models of society were imposed by a ruling class; it is a powerful or wealthy cultural hegemony.
Antonio Gramsci differentiates between hegemony and dominance. The first is described as a dominant expression but from a social, cultural and political context. For its part, the domain expresses it as something restrictive in times of crisis.
Currently, cultural hegemony establishes a formal and structured system of values and beliefs. It constitutes a universal concept and a panorama of classes.
Hegemony of a social group
The hegemony of any social group is the influence that it has generated in other social groups as well. Through this hegemony an imprint of power, influence and hierarchy is added.
When Gramsci reiterates the need to create an alternative hegemony, he understands that with the progress of the different societies it was useless to continue with the same types of struggle.
The reality of any hegemony is that, despite defining itself as dominant, it is not exclusively so.
The cultural or political alternative constitutes an important element in society. An alternative or something opposite can even shape a hegemonic process.
The counterculture is a cultural and social movement characterized by opposing the ideological values proposed by society.
Then, the alternative culture, the counterculture or the opposition culture, is linked to the hegemonic. Hence the breadth of cultural hegemony.
It can be said that the culture it dominates generates, and at the same time limits, its own counterculture characteristics.
References
- Wikipedia. (2016). Cultural hegemony. 2017, from Wikipedia.org Website: wikipedia.org
- Federico Polleri. (2014). Cultural hegemony. 2017, from gramsci.org.ar Website: gramscilogias.com
- Manuel Fernandez Cuesta. (2013). Gramsci and the new cultural hegemony. 2017, by eldiario.es Website: eldiario.es
- Eugenio Enrique Cortés Ramírez. (2014). Why hegemony as a method? In Cultural hegemony today (28). Current Thought. Costa Rica university.