Antonio Francesco Gramsci: Cultural Hegemony
“Cultural Hegemony is the idea that the DOMINANT IDEOLOGY of society – the beliefs, explanations, perceptions, values and morals – reflects that of the ruling class.
“The dominant ideology justifies the social, political and economic status quo as natural, inevitable, perpetual and beneficial for everyone, rather than as artificial social constructs that benefit only the ruling class.”
– Antonio Gramsci –Foundational Theorist for the Sociology of Culture
Antonio Gramsci, who was born on this day, 22 January 1891, was a Marxist philosopher and a member and leader of the Italian Communist Party. He was also a prolific writer on the topics of Marxism, the oppressive tendencies of civil society as he saw it, political thought, and the social sciences. He expanded upon or outright critiqued many of the ideas of political theorist Karl Marx while remaining ensconced in the general ideas of his political philosophy and the ideals of the Russian Revolution that Marx inspired.
On Cultural Hegemony, Gramsci believed that culture must shift toward communist goals before replacing the economic system of capitalism. He thought Karl Marx was incorrect in his assumption that economic forces would be the primary cause of a shift away from capitalism toward socialism and communism. In Gramsci’s view, the bourgeois or capitalist class had so entrenched its values in culture – or achieved cultural hegemony – that to
