Is hegemony a theory?
Hegemonic stability theory (HST) is a theory of international relations, rooted in research from the fields of political science, economics, and history. HST indicates that the international system is more likely to remain stable when a single state is the dominant world power, or hegemon.
Hegemony designates a type of domination based primarily on dominated people's and groups' consent rather than purely on a leader's coercion and exerted force. The term is often loosely used to indicate complete domination, but its precise definition has far more analytical power.
Social hegemony is more than power. It is the overwhelming hold of power and domination of one group over another. The idea is often attributed to the Italian political theorist Antonio Francesco Gramsci, who was imprisoned during Benito Mussolini's regime.
The Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci developed the concept of cultural hegemony out of Karl Marx's theory that the dominant ideology of society reflects the beliefs and interests of the ruling class.
In Marxist philosophy, cultural hegemony is the dominance of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class who manipulate the culture of that society—the beliefs and explanations, perceptions, values, and mores—so that the worldview of the ruling class becomes the accepted cultural norm.
Rather than a problem-solving preoccupation with the maintenance of social power relationships, a critical theory of hegemony directs attention to questioning the prevailing order of the world.
Examples of Hegemony
The cultural influence of the United States on the rest of the world spread through movies, music, and television. The cultural and societal definitions of acceptable femininity and masculinity.
An example of political hegemony is Great Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries. While they had an effective military and controlled a large portion of global trade, the source of British power was their political dominance.
Hegemony derives from the Greek term hēgemonia (“dominance over”), which was used to describe relations between city-states. Its use in political analysis was somewhat limited until its intensive discussion by the Italian politician and Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci.
Most notably, American political scientists John Mearsheimer and Joseph Nye have argued that the US is not a genuine global hegemon because it has neither the financial nor the military resources to impose a proper, formal, global hegemony.
Is hegemony a ideology?
Whereas ideology connotes closure and a unidirectional flow of power, hegemony emphasizes the inherent conflict involved in constructing networks of power through knowledge. With the concept of discourse, post-structuralism and post-Marxism further challenge the notion of ideology.
Cultural hegemony refers to domination or rule maintained through ideological or cultural means. It is usually achieved through social institutions, which allow those in power to strongly influence the values, norms, ideas, expectations, worldview, and behavior of the rest of society.
Let's finish our analysis of culture by reviewing them in the context of three theoretical perspectives: functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism. Functionalists view society as a system in which all parts work—or function—together to create society as a whole.
One of the key features of realism's understanding of hegemony is the hegemonic stability theory. This particular facet concentrates on the distribution of power or the balance of power, within the international system. Classical realists argue that “imbalanced power produces peace,”[8] as Joseph Nye states.
Marxism is both a social and political theory, and encompasses Marxist class conflict theory and Marxian economics. Marxism was first publicly formulated in 1848 in the pamphlet The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, which lays out the theory of class struggle and revolution.
Marxism uses a materialist methodology, referred to by Marx and Engels as the materialist conception of history and later better known as historical materialism, to analyse the underlying causes of societal development and change from the perspective of the collective ways in which humans make their living.
His key theories were a critique of capitalism and its shortcomings. Marx thought that the capitalistic system would inevitably destroy itself. The oppressed workers would become alienated and ultimately overthrow the owners to take control of the means of production themselves, ushering in a classless society.
While Critical Theory is often thought of narrowly as referring to the Frankfurt School that begins with Horkheimer and Adorno and stretches to Marcuse and Habermas, any philosophical approach with similar practical aims could be called a “critical theory,” including feminism, critical race theory, and some forms of ...
The opposite of hegemony is subordination, or the act of giving someone or something less importance or power.
Power, dominance and leadership are three main features of hegemony.
How is the US a cultural hegemony?
American Studies experts call it as a “hegemonic culture” in which American norms, values and cultural practices are considered superior against the world culture. Globalizing the culture has been the most effective engine to spread American cultural values and to shape the global civilizations.
Hegemony, Education, and Identity
In this paper, hegemony is defined as the process by which individuals are made subject, and subject themselves, to a system of beliefs and practices that is detrimental to their well-being but supportive of the interests of those in power over them (Brookfield, 2005; Hall, 1997).
The Social Construction of Masculinity
R. W. Connell's definition of masculinity explains hegemonic masculinity as a pattern of practice and ascendancy through culture, institutions, and persuasion that allow men's dominance over women to continue and permeate society (Connell, 2005, 832).
Hegemonic feminism refers to an institutionalized understanding of power articulated around a binary perception of gender relations and its implementation in projects, indicators and expert knowledge.
The theory of ideological hegemony materializes when a populous takes part in reinforcing power structures and societal ideas willingly, even when the structures and ideas only marginally benefit those without meaningful access to power.
Cultural hegemony is a term developed by Antonio Gramsci, activist, theorist, and founder of the Italian Communist party. Writing while imprisoned in a Fascist jail, Gramsci was concerned with how power works: how it is wielded by those in power and how it is won by those who want to change the system.
Hegemony. This is a dominant society exerting political, social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence or authority over others. Country, destiny.
Gramsci is best known for his theory of cultural hegemony, which describes how the state and ruling capitalist class – the bourgeoisie – use cultural institutions to maintain power in capitalist societies.
In ancient Greece, hegemony referred to one city-state exerting its stronger political and military influence over another city-state. For instance, Sparta was the dominant city-state in its area for several centuries. It was a part of an alliance with other city-states and, as the strongest, was known as the hegemon.
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Hegemony Examples
- The British Empire. ...
- American Culture. ...
- Neoliberalism. ...
- Communism in the Soviet Union. ...
- Sunni Islam in Saudi Arabia. ...
- Judaism in Israel. ...
- Capitalism in the West.
What is a good synonyms for hegemony?
- authority.
- command.
- leadership.
- power.
- predominance.
1 : preponderant influence or authority over others : domination. 2 : the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group.
Hegemony derives from the Greek term hēgemonia (“dominance over”), which was used to describe relations between city-states. Its use in political analysis was somewhat limited until its intensive discussion by the Italian politician and Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci.
The hegemony of U.S. dollar is the main source of instability and uncertainty in the world economy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States abused its global financial hegemony and injected trillions of dollars into the global market, leaving other countries, especially emerging economies, to pay the price.
Most notably, American political scientists John Mearsheimer and Joseph Nye have argued that the US is not a genuine global hegemon because it has neither the financial nor the military resources to impose a proper, formal, global hegemony.
In ancient Greece, hegemony referred to one city-state exerting its stronger political and military influence over another city-state. For instance, Sparta was the dominant city-state in its area for several centuries. It was a part of an alliance with other city-states and, as the strongest, was known as the hegemon.
Realism has garnered considerable attention as a philosophical position in the history of social theory, both from its supporters, and, more often, its detractors.
As applied to sociology, scientific realism is the view that – as Durkheim put it – social facts are just as real as physical facts, and that they can be known by blending theory with observation, measurement, and (whenever possible) experiment as well.
Liberalism, in stark contrast to realism, believes in the measurement of power through state economies, the possibility of peace and cooperation, as well as the concepts of political freedoms, rights and the like.
