Continuing the discussion from Cultural appropriation? Hindu nationalists used yoga as an anti-colonialist export:
Or: Can Dialectics Break Wind?
Anybody game for a discussion of hegemony?
Is it the way big-pants people get things done in the real world? A critical-thinking fail for the gullible? Both? Neither?
5 Likes
Sure. Hegemony is a favorite among marxist theorists, especially Gramsci, so thatâs as good a place to start as any. Of course, we can keep in mind this is a theoretical framework, and then maybe figure out if it operates in real life the way Gramsci or whoever theorized, yeah?
Gramsci believed that the dominant class exerted power in several ways, not just force. Culture was an important way that they did so. the creation of a hegemonic (or dominant) culture, he argued, was part of ruling by consent or the creation of âcommon senseâ. You get people on board in this way in order to have them buy into whatever it is youâre selling as the ânaturalâ structures of a society. But less dominant groups can also push for their ideas being hegemonic in a given society, and even work to come to power via the projection of their ideas.
So I think this is a decent start on Gramsci. Iâll have to ruminate some more, especially with the ideas of foucault and how he argues power works within a societyâŚ
7 Likes
Economically, hegenomy comes from oligarchs controlling resource and product markets and the way oligarchs do business (and war) with each other. Thatâs what empires and the transnational corporate world is all about. Why do yaâll think Putin is so put out by the fight against Assad? We have âourâ oligarchs entrenched from Egypt through Yemen, Finland through Georgia, and all the work the Soviets and Russian Federation did to build their oligarchies in Cyprus, Ukraine, and Syria have gone to shit.
It shouldnât be this way, but until we pull the pebble of exclusive IP out of the foundation of this this shitshow, the rise of this aristocracy will continue and tens of millions will die from their wars. March for salt and makers.
Fwd to Sup Marxists! and brace for misapplied libertarianism.
4 Likes
Isnât part of the question of just what hegemony is though, is how this is maintained? Raw power only works so well and gets you so far. Even in Russia, where Putin is less shy about the use of force, he has to create a culture that allows him and his cadre of oligarchs to rule in the manner that they do. this is done through the mass media, which pontfications on the disruption caused by NGO, which they say are underwritten by the CIA and NSA. Pretty much anything that doesnât conform with âRussian valuesâ is constructed in this way via the mass media in Russia. You could say much the same here, but itâs a more complicated media picture, since you have different media channels, controlled by different groups, competing for attention.
4 Likes
I thought you froods were talking about fivers found in privet bishes.
2 Likes
This must be a reference to Can Dialectics Break Bricks?
But the first thing I thought of was
5 Likes
But seriously.
Given two people with equal education and ability. If one has a secret snippet of information, why wouldnât it turn into a hegemony? Hell, repeat the experiment a million times with the same two people, and randomly choose the person with the secret advantage.
It wonât ever balance, it will start to grow lopsided till one group (or person) controls the other. It is like a coin flip, when the coin isnât perfectly weighted.
1 Like
#Thatâs not how it works!
1 Like
Thatâs true as long as one or both parties operate on the basis of compete & consume, rather than cooperate & conserveâŚ
But then, weâre all pretty thoroughly fucked if we canât make that paradigm shift anyway.
4 Likes
Humans are closer to ratis ratis than the kakapo. Hegemonies will always exist.
Gratuitis photo
2 Likes
The nature v. history distinction seems like an esp. important part for how the concept has been understood in academic and political discussions.
Western Marxists often examined ideology and power by considering how historical relationships and institutions came to appear natural and ahistorical to dominated groups.
âThe disadvantaged live 'within an ideological space that does not seem at all âideologicalâ: which appears instead to be permanent and ânatural,â to lie outside history, to be beyond particular interests.â Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style (London: Methuen, 1979), 16, quoted in Budd, Craig & Steinman, Consuming Environments: Television and Commercial Culture, (New Jersey: Rutgers Univ. Press, 1999), 13.
2 Likes
Or at least, until the point where hegemonic activity has harmed the biosphere so much that no further such activity is possible.
1 Like
The first narrator sounds like Paul Scheer. Is he involved?
2 Likes
Iâd expect a more hopeful explanation is that hegemonies will always exist as long as humanity (as we know it) does.
Itâs a feature of scarcity. When humanity changes the scarce resources change. But I fear hegemonies will exist as long as intelligent agents exist simultaneously with them nit having everything they desire on an individual basis.
At least thatâs true from my perspective. As far as I know, the word hegemony means a majority of people going along with a dominant meme, or set of memes. In that way we are all ruled by hegemonies. And until thereâs a way to raise an intelligent agent without any kind of external input, or (in a weak formulation) isolated from other external agents, the movement of power in service of the agent is a hegemonic action.
I could easily be misunderstanding though. That seems more likely every day.
3 Likes
Well, isnât majority per say, it is cultural will, right?
2 Likes
Cultural will is a much better term, and I did think to use it. Or at least try to stay in terms of dominance and culture. But itâs late, Iâm drunk, Iâm on my phone, and itâs very cold out here on this park bench. So with those factors combined, I said fuckit and glossed over.
1 Like
Inmean thatbis why popo arguing against hegemony is both intriguing the WTF at the same time. Most of us know a society where force isnât the dominant feature in a societal contract is cool, but when or how is that implemented?
4 Likes
Influence. Thatâs the basic unit of social capitalism. And to us little people, you gain influence by making friends (the stronger the better), or gaining reputation (which is perception of your actions and thoughts, spread via the friends route, or media/notetiety, or less commonly and in a way that requires initial social capital through fraud and lies.)
Any single reputation system only worjs for a homogeneous culture though. You can gain reputation through other ways by switching context. But that usually takes more work than what itâs worth unless you have plenty of sociopolitical capital already
When product and resource markets are sewn up as a matter of course in the legal system, it becomes easy for a few large companies to get the resources together buy into the media as a trivial expense (as GE did) and then both absorb the entire media industry outright before devolving the ownership of the media and political culture to the class of âsignificantâ stockholders, a.k.a. oligarchs. It leaves out âinsignificantâ stockholders as well as democratic-republican institutions which used to be sovereign in will as well as in law.
So between pulling aside thee cloth of the fiction that is exclusive IP rights and finding a business model for media that is actually independent from advertising and other kickbacks, economic and cultural hegemony (in the form of oligarchy) can be challenged.
4 Likes
