Hegemonic culture or cultural hegemony concept and examples

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Simon Doyle
Hegemonic culture or cultural hegemony concept and examples

The hegemonic culture or cultural hegemony refers to the action of making one culture the dominant one 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". Its origin of the verb is also contemplated eghemian, whose meaning is "guide" or "lead".

From this verb also derives "to govern" or "to be in front", with which it 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 does with this is to exert that influence on other territories. When it speaks of world hegemony, it refers to the domination of the world promoted by a nation.

Concept of cultural hegemony

This term was developed by Antonio Gramsci, a journalist, writer, philosopher, pedagogue, and politician from 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 hegemony from 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 a trace 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 dominant..

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 that dominates generates, and at the same time limits, its own characteristics of counterculture.

Examples of hegemonic culture

- Spanish culture in Latin America after the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492.

- Greek culture in the Mediterranean in ancient times.

- American culture with globalization.

- English culture in the territories conquered by the British Empire.

References

  1. Wikipedia. (2016). Cultural hegemony. 2017, from Wikipedia.org Website: wikipedia.org
  2. Federico Polleri. (2014). Cultural hegemony. 2017, from gramsci.org.ar Website: gramscilogias.com
  3. Manuel Fernandez Cuesta. (2013). Gramsci and the new cultural hegemony. 2017, by eldiario.es Website: eldiario.es
  4. Eugenio Enrique Cortés Ramírez. (2014). Why hegemony as a method? In Cultural hegemony today (28). Current Thought. Costa Rica university.

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