IDEOLOGICAL HEGEMONY arises in a situation where a particular ideology is pervasively reflected throughout a society in all principal social institutions and permeates cultural ideas and social relationships. Ideological hegemony is a system of thought control. Ideology is a linked set of ideas and beliefs that act to uphold and justify an existing or desired arrangement of power, authority, wealth and status in a society.
Social power can exercised within any given society through ideology. A socialist ideology advocates the transformation of society from capitalism to collective ownership and economic equality. A liberal ideology associated with capitalism and capitalist societies upholds that system as the best, most moral, most desirable form of social arrangement.
Patriarchal ideology also has this characteristic of asserting claims and beliefs that justify a social arrangement: in this case, male social domination of women.
A racist ideology claiming that people can be classified into distinct races and that some races are inferior to others. Racist ideologies are used as justifications for systems of slavery or colonial exploitation.
Although there is often a dominant ideology in a society, there can also be counter-ideologies that advocate transformation of social relationships.
Controversy and Ideological Hegemony in
Sociological Theory
Mark L. Wardell , Ellsworth R. Fuhrman, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University
ABSTRACT: Sociological theory has been characterized by the recurrence of several
controversies since its inception. The relationship between the individual and society
represents one of these. Charles Horton Cooley's
notion of the individual and society being twin-born has been labeled one of the major
breakthroughs in this controversy. According to Tiryakian, Cooley's work signaled the end
of that controversy, but still it reappears. Drawing heavily from Mannheim, Berger and
Pullberg, and Therborn, we examine the recurrence of the individual versus society
controversy. Sociology, we contend, occupies an alienated position within capitalist
society where positivist epistemology serves as an
ideological veil, concealing the existence of ontological presuppositions, distorting
social reality, and preventing any meaningful attempt to understand the development of
sociology, or the recurrence of the individual-society controversy. As an ideological
veil, positivism contributes to the recurring bifurcation of social reality. The dominance
of positivism within sociology, moreover, gives it a
hegemonic status, further negating any recognition that the individual and society are
interdependent.
Ideological Hegemony and Global Governance
Thomas Ford Brown, Johns Hopkins University
Cite: Brown, Thomas Ford. (1997). "Ideological Hegemony and Global Governance."
Journal of World-Systems Research 3.
In After Liberalism, Wallerstein argues that liberalism is in decline, both as a system
and as a hegemonic discourse (Wallerstein, 1995). He holds that those dissatisfied with
the liberal consensus have, since 1989, turned to free-market rhetoric as an alternative,
but he dismisses this movement as not "serious" (242). He holds that since the
collapse of Communism, no hope for liberation remains that can tame the world's working
class, and that liberalism cannot consequently survive.
I would argue that free-market ideology is more potent than Wallerstein allows, and that
laissez-faire libertarian utopianism could conceivably prove as seductive to a
disillusioned working class as socialist utopianism was during the early 20th century.
Libertarian sympathies and ideology are easily exploited by non-believers as a means of
extending the status quo. "Minarchist" rhetoric upholding small government is
commonly appropriated by politicians who have no intention of implementing a full
libertarian program.
In this paper, I speak to "libertarianism" as
it is understood in the United States: as a fiscally conservative and socially liberal
political philosophy that upholds individual liberties and individual property rights
above all other ideals. As such, libertarianism functions as the philosophical
justification for Chicago school economic policy.
Ideological Hegemony - Thought Control in
American Society -
question-everything.mahost.org/Socio-Politics/thoughtcontrol.html
In June 2003 a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that about 1 in 4 Americans
(incorrectly) believed Iraq had used weapons of mass destruction during the recent war
with the United States. A separate poll in the same month found that 34% of Americans
believed the United States had already found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In
September another poll found that 69% of Americans believed Saddam Hussein was personally
involved in 9-11. Even the Bush administration has been forced to admit that these claims
are not true. These misconceptions are the outcome of a system of thought control called
ideological hegemony.
Ideological hegemony operates through many mechanisms
including the media, education system, newspeak and others with the primary function of
maintaining support for the dominant socio-economic system in the United States.
Ideological hegemony in the United States operates in a similar manner. Critics play an
important role in perpetuating ideological hegemony. Hegemony is the result of the way the
media, education system and other institutions are set up and have evolved. The power
elite, have far greater power, wealth and prestige than those below them.
The kind of ideological hegemony that operates in America is different from the mechanisms
used by totalitarian states to maintain control. Totalitarian societies tend to rely more
on violence to control the population, although they usually also have an ideology to
support the status quo.
Hegemony operates through many institutions and mechanisms. Hegemony is written into the
very structure of our language, through a process called newspeak. And there are also
other elements to hegemony, but these are the main ones addressed here. In addition, some
of these institutions have functions other than directly reinforcing hegemony. The
education system is a kind of Keynesianism and the media helps create artificial scarcity,
for example. These other functions are not examined here, the focus is on how each of
these institutions acts to create and reinforce ideological hegemony.
Government regulations can also act to pressure private schools to reproduce bourgeois
ideological hegemony.
During the First World War the government found that if they could convince the educated
classes that their war propaganda was true and to this day the intelligentsia acts in a
similar manner. If they can be kept indoctrinated then it will magnify the effects of
ideological hegemony.
The equation of anarchy with chaos is nothing more than a smear used to discredit a
radical philosophy. Most who equate anarchy with chaos have read little or no anarchist
theory and do so only because ideological hegemony pushes that equation.
The idea of “objectivity” is also used to reinforce ideological hegemony. Ideas
and sources outside the liberal-conservative spectrum are dismissed as
“un-objective,” “biased,” “inflammatory” or sometimes
“extremist.” Only the ideas & sources within the liberal-conservative
spectrum are considered “objective.” Sometimes this is also used by groups
within the liberal-conservative spectrum against each other, such as a conservative
denouncing a liberal’s position as “biased” (or vice versa).
Whether liberal-conservative ideas happen to be correct and whether ideological hegemony
exists are two separate issues. Even if it could be shown that a philosophy within the
liberal-conservative spectrum were correct this would not change the fact that there
exists a social system, hegemony, which acts to indoctrinate the populace into believing
in those ideas.
Ideological Hegemony and The Indo-U.S. Nuclear
Deal - Priyanka Mahadevia
Abstract: The Indo-U.S. nuclear deal is currently an extremely controversial issue that
faces strong opposition from states who view the deal as a violation of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation treaty, and an exemplification of the U.S.’s inconsistent
participation in the NPT regime. Current analyses of the NPT regime are centered on
identifying actors and policies that are worthy of censure, and that can be held
accountable for the regime’s collapse. My research moves away from this trend by
focusing on a key process, of hegemonic legitimization, in order to add an underemphasized
dimension to our understanding of the problems facing the NPT. In the context of
non-proliferation, the U.S. hegemon utilizes its powerful standing in the regime to forge
an acceptance of its own norm violations, to manufacture consensus by justifying its
actions and policies, and to maintain its hegemony.
Class Domination and Ideological Hegemony
- David L. Sallach, Washington University
Correspondence to Reprints of this article may be obtained by writing to David Sallach,
Department of Sociology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130.
ABSTRACT: Sociological theory poses the issue of whether ideational or coercive factors
provide the central basls of social order. The former view maintains (and requires) that a
value consensus exist in the empirical world; the latter assumes the existence of a ruling
class which dominates the ideational institutions of the society. A preliminary scrutiny
of available evidence suggests that: (1) a value consensus does not exist, and (2) there
is a high concentration of wealth and economic control which appears to extend into vital
political and ideological areas, thereby implying the existence of a dominant or ruling
class. Based upon these conclusions, the concept of ideological hegemony is introduced as
a significant component of a Marxist view of social order. The hegemonic process is
described and available evidence is examined in the areas of political socialization and mass media.
A pattern in which debate and discussion are circumscribed while alternative values and world views are ignored or suppressed was found to
characterize these two areas. This pattern was seen to provide further support for the
Marxist view that an ideological hegemony imposed by the dominant class is the ideational
manifestation of a social order based upon coercion.
Ideology and Growth Promotion - Bridger,
Jeffrey C.; Harp, Aaron J.
Journal of Rural Studies, v6 n3 p269-77 1990
Abstract: Uses ideological hegemony concept to analyze one local elite's efforts to
"sell" community growth. Expands growth ideology research explaining wealth
transfer from public to social elite in local areas. Examines government, media roles of
disseminating "pro-growth" ideology with case studies. Property, progress, and
community identified as central to ideological hegemony.
The Discourse on the Digital Divide: Are We Being
Co-opted?
Ilhan Kucukaydin, Elizabeth J. Tisdell, Penn State University - Harrisburg
Abstract: This paper strives to reconstruct the digital divide discourse from a Gramscian
perspective in relation to educators’ role in cultural force in the process of
hegemonic dominance. Educators either serve the interest of ruling elites and help the
maintenance of ideological hegemony or counter-serve hegemonic forces by breaking the
cycle of dehumanization and oppression. In essence, the digital divide discourse and its
popularization were perceived as a product of ideological hegemony. In order to analyze
the digital divide discourse, this paper looked at the current literature related to
digital divide, and then examined technology’s historical relations with the
hegemonic power structure. The contemporary United States society and its dominant
discourse on the digital divide and how other social determinants related to the class
structure are being ignored in the process of approaching this social problem are also
analyzed. Finally the paper discussed how educators need to deal with and challenge
educational inequities in the new alteration process of hegemonic structure that has a
strong dialectical relation with the new technological advancement. This discussion is one
attempt to participate in its rearrangement.
Ideological hegemony meant that the majority of the population accepted what was happening in society as ‘common sense’ or as ‘the only way of running society’. There may have been complaints about the way things were run and people looked for improvements or reforms but the basic beliefs and value system underpinning society were seen as either neutral or of general applicability in relation to the class structure of society. Marxists would have seen people constantly asking for a bigger slice of the cake when the real issue was ownership of the bakery. - infed.org/thinkers/et-gram.htm.
Hegemony and Historiography: The Politics of
Pedagogy - Yvette Claire Rosser, PhD - A.B.D. - Yvette Claire Rosser is a Ph.D.
candidate in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at The University of Texas at
Austin. She has a M.A. -South Asian History and Culture & a B.A. (with honors), in
Asian Studies from UT Austin.
Abstract: This paper situates a discussion of the influences of colonialism, nationalism,
and politics on historiography and curriculum development within a comparative study of
the contents of Social Studies textbooks in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. It traces the
impact of colonial policies on pedagogical institutions in South Asia and their subsequent
appropriation by the nationalist discourse. It discusses the ubiquitous implementation of
the 'culture of textbooks,' which simultaneously brought about a loss of status for
teachers and became instruments which reify and replicate class inequalities and religious
and cultural differences by promoting rote learning and reproduction instead of dialectical. Education in this critical analysis, becomes a
hegemonic tool mediating between centers of power and the common citizen.
Heritage Institutions, Resistance, and Praxis
- Susan L.T. Ashley
Abstract: Abstract: Heritage institutions traditionally function as subtle hegemonic
devices for the production and public representation of knowledge, meaning, and belonging.
This article looks at the role of public intellectuals called heritage interpreters who
work at heritage institutions as agents of knowledge production. The concept of the public
sphere is considered in relation to the ideas of Antonio
Gramsci on hegemony, the intellectual, and praxis to offer an expanded view of
communicative production at heritage institutions. The article explores the
interpreter’s role resisting ideological hegemony and commodification, and in
creating spaces and conversations for alternative imaginings of and struggle toward public
knowledge and radical pedagogy.
Religion and the Media in a Battle for Ideological Hegemony: the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God and TV Globo in Brazil, BIRMAN P.; LEHMANN D.