Patricia E.

Joson

BS Math 4-3

Hegemony was based from the Greek word hēgemonia which means to “dominance over”, which was put

to use to explain connections among city-states. The dominance of one class to another class is frequently

backed up based on legalized rules and thoughts from the upper class or what we call as the ruling class.

The word hegemony is usually used nowadays to explain the particularly dominant role of a selected set

of thoughts and their tendency to turn out to be innate or inborn and also making it balanced and because

of this, the distribution or spreading of different thoughts were being held back. Also, the word hegemon

is used to pinpoint the class, nation, and especially the group of people that are behind the dispersal and

spreading of the hegemonic thoughts and ideas and also those who practice and utilize the hegemonic

capability that they have. The application of the word hegemony was only narrow back when it was being

practiced in political analysis but not until the thorough and in-depth examination and analysis of the well-

known Marxist philosopher and the Italian politician Antonio Gramsci.

Antonio Gramsci was the one who created the notion of cultural hegemony based from the theory of Karl

Marx that says that “the dominant ideology of society reflects the beliefs and interests of the ruling class”.

According to Gramsci, the permission or acceptance to the ordinance and orders that were from the

superior class, which in this case are the ruling class, is being pulled off and carried out using the

dissemination of the assumptions, values, and beliefs and other ideologies by means of different societal

establishments and organizations like the church, media, as well as the schools. The use of these societal

establishments and organizations that we have are the ones that carry out the beliefs, norms, and values

out to the people that these beliefs, norms, and values were from the dominant class and the class that

are in control of these societal establishments and organizations are also the ones that were and are able
to control the part of the society that are not part of the dominant class. Cultural hegemony is mostly

exhibited and shown when the controlling class presume that the social situations and as well as the

economic situations of their community were all certain and inborn instead of thinking that it is generated

by the humankind that has fixed thing in a specific order whether it is economic, political, or social.

The stability of the capitalists in the superior parts and places of the Western countries were also

discussed when Gramsci aimed to acknowledge these things in the discussion of the hegemony. It is said

that the reason as to why Gramsci had created the idea of cultural hegemony is because he wanted to

explain the reason as to why the worker-led revolution that Karl Marx had anticipate to happen a few

centuries back still hasn’t happened. The main thought of the theory of capitalism of Karl Marx discusses

as it is believed that the fall of the economic system is also seen from the system also because we know

that capitalism is presumed as taking advantage of the dominant class which are the ruling class to the

working class. Karl Marx believed that the working class could only grasp enough oppression from the

dominant class and would soon bring down the dominant class or the ruling class but then this rebellion

still hasn’t happened extensively. Gramsci recognized the main system of rule as class rules and is

attentive about clarifying the approaches wherein solid governance structure and concrete connection of

manufacturing became important. The use of barbarian control and force are the only way that the

supremacy of a group be acquired. Based on the crucial examination of Gramsci, the developed capitalist

communities and societies prolonging or maintaining the class rule is being attained by the use of unified

method and ways which were by way of moral and mental control. The concepts from the capitalists have

been also being analyzed by Gramsci as he analyzed hegemony and he came up with the result that those

notions were being administered in ways that people would believe that those were inborn, balanced,

usual, and also typical. A group of people are considered as a hegemonic class if they can attain to have

the authorization and are able to withhold this permission from the other social forces. The way in order

to maintain the consent that the upper or ruling class has needs a certain class of people wherein they
recognize the interests that are related to the inspirations, attentiveness, desire, and also the mode of

production that the lower class that are not part of the ruling class has.

It has been noticed by Gramsci that there had been constant or persistent inputs from the institutions of

the civil community when it comes in defining the mass perception and awareness in capitalism. And also

based from the concept that he created which that is called as the national-popular, it can be seen that

the way on how the talking and issuance of the approved or accepted ideas are required in hegemony.

According to Gramsci, there are other things to consider other than the class composition and also the

part of taking advantage of the employees in the supremacy of capitalism since according to Karl Marx,

the main role that the ideology has is seen in recreating the social composition and also the economic

system that were supporting the ideology however, based on Gramsci, Karl Marx did not give sufficient

attribution to the capacity that the ideology has. According to the essay that Gramsci wrote in the middle

of the years 1929 and 1935 where he had given it a title as “The Intellectuals”, it can be seen that he had

mentioned the power of ideology in portraying the social organization in the eyes of different

organizations such as the schools and also the church. It was mentioned that the people that were

considered as the intellectuals in the society or sometimes were considered as the separated watcher of

the society were known to be the ones that has the advantage in having a status or reputation in the

society and are part of the privileged social class and as a consequence of this, they are considered as the

“deputies” by the dominant class which were the ruling class wherein their job is to encourage and teach

the rest of the society to obey the standard beliefs and ordered that were set by the ruling class. The

contribution of the education system was explained further by Gramsci in his essay that was titled as the

“On Education” where it discusses the procedure and methods of attaining cultural hegemony or also

known as the rule by consent.

According to Gramsci, the class that was considered as the dominant or ruling class in Europe were the

bourgeoisie where it controlled but also with the consent of the low-ranking classes. Bourgeoisie is

considered as hegemonic since it secured several interests that the lower ranking classes have so that the

bourgeoisie could obtain the support of the low-ranking classes. So based on his analysis of the bourgeois

hegemony it was established completely in the historical analysis however, there are also comprehensible

indication in support to the thorough socialist plan.

Obviously, we can see that there is a clear result when obtaining the consent prior to obtaining the power

and there were two differentiations that Gramsci had mentioned and these were the war of position

which is the engagement with and the subversion of the mechanisms of bourgeois ideology domination

and on the other hand, there is the war of maneuver which is in essence a full-frontal assault on the

bourgeois state. Take note that the conception of hegemony according Gramsci were also based on the

connection to the processes of production and were not only based on terms of ideas.

The immense approach of the creation of hegemony were seen on the scanning of the international

political economy and the international relations and this is seen in what they call as the transnational

historical materialism. Based from one of the works of Gramsci which is titled as “The Study of

Philosophy”, it talked through the function of common sense which is known to be the primary thoughts

and ideas regarding the society and the things that are concerning our position inside the society. One

thing that was considered to produce cultural hegemony within the community was what we know as

common sense. There was an example of an idea that was given that is the thought of that a someone

can flourish and prosper in terms of economically if they just work hard enough or can also be called as

“pulling oneself up by the bootstraps” wherein it was considered as a common sense in the society that

started under capitalism and was used to account for the system. And because of this, then it simply

means that if someone is convinced that hard work is all they need in order for them to be successful in

life, then we can see that the direct implication is that the social structure that it has and also the system
of capitalism was just right and reasonable. And it will also follow that those who were struggling

economically were not hard-working enough and thus they just deserve that kind of living and that those

who are successful economically were working in an upright and fair way. Because of this kind of thinking

created by the concept of “common sense”, the society ends up believing that being successful only

requires that the person must be “hard working” and other factors to becoming successful were being

concealed and hidden and also, things such as gender inequalities, real class and also racial inequalities

were also constructed based on the capitalist system.

One of the most well-known cultural hegemonies that we all know is the one that is from the Unites

States. It is a great example for this topic since we have mentioned from above that a cultural hegemony

is something that the ruling class implements or creates which has a straight effect or control towards the

rest of the society that are not included in the dominant class or usually called or known as the ruling class

and because of this, most of the things that we tend to consider and also our ideology depends on these

cultural hegemonies. Some of the mentioned things that affects our thinking would be the way we follow

rules, our beliefs, and also the ways that we were expected to follow different norms. One of the up to

date or modern examples of this is that we were expected to buy flowers and especially roses to our

partners when it is February 14 or what we know as the Valentine’s Day. This belief and thought were not

created or present before but then in today’s time, it has influenced the beliefs and values that we have.

And thus, we can see that this is one of the ideas that had influenced us that were from the ruling class in

order for all of us to behave as one. Another thing that is part of this is about the thinking created by the

political groups wherein they encourage us to be “as one” or what is normally called as society wherein if

you were to look at it closely, it could be misleading because it seems like we were being forced to do

something even if we really don’t want to and tells us that doing it makes things easier to work out well.

Throughout the years, a lot of countries believed that having a great dream could make a nation a great

one and one of the well-known examples of this is what was mentioned above, the United States. America
was considered as a great example of cultural hegemony since a lot of America’s beliefs, cultural practices

and also their norms were the basis of other nations making it superior opposed to the world culture.

Making these cultures, beliefs, and norms from the America globalized makes it easier to spread in the

world that ends up shaping the global civilization.

The United States came out triumphant despite the devastating things that had happened during the

World War II. During these times, it is said that they have been disseminating to other countries the

different ideologies that they have within their country such as the concept of human rights where in it

could be easily understood as the basic standards that are important for a life of dignity and as well as

democracy which means that it is a structure of the government wherein it is led by the whole population

of a certain country.

One of the statements that Hans J. Morgenthau (1997.) mentioned is about how he sees the deeper

reasonings of the United States as they are described as a fanatic about the cultural expansion and it

follows as “Cultural imperialism is the most subtle and, if it were ever to succeed by itself alone, the most

successful of imperialistic polities. It aims not at the conquest of territory or at the control of economic

life, but at the conquest and control of the minds of men as an instrument for changing the power

relations between two nations.”. And the people can relate these statements as to what the United States

are doing in terms of expanding their cultures that ends up it being a cultural hegemony of the whole

world. People will not even make enough effort to find and figure out these things since America has been

selling the way they are living and as well as their values that are commonly seen in places and things that

everyone can access such as books, movies, and most especially, the media wherein everyone and anyone

can easily access. Aside from these, it can also be seen in the fundings to what they call as the non-profit

cultural organizations. But above all of these, the most used weapon of the United States is the places

which are known by a lot or if not, is known by all and those are the Hollywood which is known to be the

dream machine. The spread of cultural hegemonism from the United States had been easier especially
during the present time because of the existence of computers and internet and also since these things

are accessible to anyone and most parts of the world but the despite all these things, people must still be

observant and also attentive since these hegemonies could also be destructive for our own cultures in the

end since continuing in following such hegemonies could end up in the citizens of the given country or

nation to forget their own cultures, traditions, beliefs, and norms.

It has been known during the times that globalization is happening, the United States had the most

advantages from the rest of the world since they are known to be one of the most powerful countries in

the world. Using the cultural globalization as a tool in order to spread what they call as the American

dream had been beneficial to the said country since it is more necessary to condition the minds of the

citizens of other countries since mind controlling really lasts longer than just forcing things to happen even

if others don’t want to. As the mindset that the Americans continually spread all over the world, then

obviously, their products and other goods that are from them were the basis of the people that had been

colonized by their thinking where it had been a process of Americanization but then as these things are

continually happening, a lot of countries had complained because of the supremacy of the American

products that had become a consumer culture. This problem had made their local products, values, norms,

and as well as their traditions to crumbled and be destroyed since the citizens of those local countries

would rather choose American products, goods, traditions, and other services rather than what they have

as their own in their own respective countries or nation.

The creation of the thought of American dream lies a deeper intention and purpose and that is the cultural

globalization from the said country. It is not usually shown obviously but is shown in a way that you

wouldn’t expect it to be like the things that you would just usually enjoy in a daily life basis such as in

foods, clothing, literature, and also things such as movies and sports. Aside from the things that had been

mentioned, the continuous spread of the thought of American dream still continuous in television

networks as well where diverse kinds of entertainment telecasts and also different kind of information
are being shown as these things were established as what they considered to be a preference based on

the American popular culture. According to Blakley (2001), the TV show named as “The Bold and the

Beautiful” has been considered to be the most popular TV show in 98 different countries where it has 500

million viewers. Also, according to Galeota (2004), there had been a survey administered by the DMB &

B’s Brain Waves division which is called as the “New World Teen Study” where there were 26,700 middle-

class teens that are from five different countries that participated in the survey and it turned out that 85

percent of those participants were watching MTV on a day-to-day basis. There had been a lot of

representations that were used as an image of the American dream and some of its examples would be

what had been mentioned above which is the MTV and also, the most popular is the Hollywood. These

things had affected the way people think and had influence the kind of dream that they had in mind; and

that is to go to the United States or if not, then you will continue to think of the United States or the

America as the fantasy that you would want to fulfill. As stated by Dominique Moisi and also by Hubert

Vedrine based from Nye Jr. (2002:78), because of globalization, a lot of advantages were given to the

Americans firstly because globalization happens to use their language also, it is arranged through

economic liberalism principles, since they are incharge of their technical, legal and also their accounting

practices, they are a supported of independence and also because of their economic size. According to

Ssenyonga (2006), he expressed his thoughts in the advantage of cultural globalization in support to the

prolonging of the hegemonic culture that the United States have by saying that “… Globalization has the

ability to alter much more than just the movies or food consumed by a society. And the results can be

powerfully positive, devastatingly negative, or (more often) something in between.”.

The thought of the American dream clearly changed the way people would imagine their aspirations in

their lifetime and most of the time, these people are part of the third world countries wherein these are

the developing or poor countries that there is in the whole world. But then despite of the circumstances

of these citizen’s countries, their thoughts, ideas, and as well as how their life goes have already been
Americanized. As mentioned by Oha (2008), “Americanization is mainly a transformation of cultural

identity, which may result from an admiration of American civilization and subjectivity or from a

circumstantial imperative to conform to American lifestyle so as to benefit more meaningfully from what

American offers. The first case mainly applies to individuals outside the U.S., who may want to reinvent

their identities with the assumption that the American is the new, desirable citizen of the world. The

second, on the other hand, seems to apply mainly to individuals who have already found themselves under

U.S. influence and have no choice but to accept American norms of behavior.”. And there were additional

interpretation that were mentioned that says that the continuous thoughts and ideas that are thrown to

the people that were about the thought of the American dream that would eventually turn into

appreciation and admiration are the number one explanation as to why and how Americanization

happens. Also, the thought of luxury and as well as the thought of being a hero lies within the thought of

the American dream. The people that would visit the United States for not only the first time would

obviously want to experience the luxury style of the United States. These urge lies within them since these

kind of lifestyle were usually shown in different platforms such as the television, movies, books,

magazines, and most especially, it is shown in different kinds of social media. The thought of experiencing

these things would make them feel that they had somewhat fulfilled one or some of the American dreams

that they have in mind. Also, the thought and excitement of becoming a hero also lies within these dreams.

Usually, these were seen in movies where it has been described by Winckler (2003) as the one “who

confronts extraordinary adversaries and also superhuman difficulties to save his life or someone’s life or

to defend universal values.”. The thought of a hero is a representation also of the American dream since

there had been thoughts that the United States or the America was considered to be the Chosen People

that are said to be the leaders in saving the whole world. It is usually shown, especially in television series

or movies, that the superheroes were the ones who has the power to save a lot of human lives and this

could be related or could symbolize the victory that the United States had during the Cold War where
America was the only one consider to have Superpower all over the world that could actually save

everyone from anything that might destroy or could cause any disturbances in the world.

Now, we will consider what is counter consciousness in the Philippine’s set up but let us first define what

consciousness means. Consciousness is the manner by which a society in its development explains the

world and views itself. But more than that, it is the recognition of the changing nature of social forms,

therefore it is an awareness of the necessity for basic and hence revolutionary change (Constantino,

1978). During the Spanish colonization, the Filipino’s consciousness were not as open as they are today.

Since we are an archipelago country which means the our country is consist of a group of islands, it is not

easier to communicate to other people from other parts of our country. Back then, there has been an

established Muslim group which are called as the “Bangsamoro” or also called as “moro” in short wherein

they are considered to be the native Muslim people that lived in the Philippines particularly in the

Mindanao region. The Bangsamoros already has an established rules regarding their religion and how it

works but then because our country is an archipelago country, the spread of these beliefs were obviously

not as rapid as if our country was not an archipelago one. And thus, by the time that the Spaniards

colonized the Philippines, Luzon and Visayas were quickly colonized since these parts of the country

mostly believes in worshipping nature and thus, the Spaniards used this to spread Christianity within the

country. But then by the time that the Filipinos gained their identity and as well as their consciousness, it

started to become a threat to the colonizers. Back then, Filipinos were considered to be ignorant where

they usually believe in superstitions and we know that these are not scientifically true and are just about

their gut and what they choose to believe and also, they did not have a concept of hierarchy. These things

had become a threat to the new colonizers after the Spaniards left the Philippines and thus, they needed

to create new beliefs that obviously, would just benefit them in the end. The counter-consciousness that

showed the struggle for independence had not fully evolved into a new consciousness before that

consciousness was again being changed into something that would benefit the new system that the new
colonizers would created. The counter consciousness that was created later on affected the people that

would also affect their cultures, beliefs, and norms because of cultural hegemony.
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