Cultural Hegemony explains how a dominant culture’s power determines what types of ideals, norms, and ways of being are “correct” in the wider society. It is a concept developed by marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci.
Conventionally, the term hegemony is used to describe political or economic control of one country or government over another. In the early 20th century, Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci constructed the theory of cultural hegemony. He applies this concept of power as not only seen between governments or political parties, but within a culture itself.
Cultural hegemony comes from ideology. According to Gramsci, cultural hegemony comes from a perspective on social class, where the bourgeoisie, or the higher class, has more power in defining what is considered “normal” in a society, while the lower classes are positioned as different from the mainstream, and are seen as needing to become more like the upper classes.
In anthropology, cultural hegemony can exist between both countries and classes within a society. However, anthropology takes cultural hegemony one step further by looking at how cultures within a wider society exert hegemonic power over another. Within most societies, there are dominant and minority cultures. The ideas of what defines the entire society, what is considered normal and abnormal, is controlled by the ruling dominant culture, class, or institutions that align themselves with these groups, who use power to maintain their culture or class as the “standard” within society, at the expense of a minority culture or lower class.
Cultural hegemony is what we refer to when we talk about the “status quo”. As anthropologists study the uniqueness of cultures, and the way they relate to each other, they aim to identify and expose the power imbalance of cultural hegemony.
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Crehan, Kate. 2002. Gramsci, Culture, and Anthropology. New York, NY: Pluto Press.
Abstract: This book explores Gramsci’s understanding of culture and the links between culture and power in relation to anthropology. Extensive use is made of Gramsci’s own writings, including his pre-prison journalism and prison letters as well as the prison notebooks. The book also provides an account of the intellectual and political contexts within which he was writing. The challenge Grasmci’s approach presents to some common anthropological assumptions about the nature of ‘culture’ is examined as is the potential usefulness of Gramsci’s writings for contemporary anthropologists.
de Bernardi, Cecilia. 2018. Reflections on the hegemonic exclusion of critical realism from academic settings: alone in a room full of people, Journal of Critical Realism, 17:4, 374-389,
Abstract: In this paper, I discuss my personal experience of the issues that can arise when adopting critical realism in academic contexts dominated by irrealist (positivist, phenomenological and post-structuralist) methodological approaches. I draw inspiration for my analysis from the concept of Gramscian hegemony and the concept of ‘authenticity’. These concepts are related because hegemonic processes prevent individuals from freely expressing themselves. In my case, academic hegemony has resulted in social pressure to sacrifice my authentic critical realist self in order to achieve academic success. I also discuss groupthink dynamics, suggesting that they are a mechanism by which hegemony – and denial of individual authenticity – can be achieved. This paper is meant to be a theoretical and reflexive discussion, which could be the starting point for empirical studies investigating the situation of a critical realist in a hegemonic academic context.
Gramsci, Antonio, and David Forgacs. 2014. The Antonio Gramsci Reader: Selected Writings, 1916-1935. Delhi: Aakar Books, 2014.
Summary: This book contains essential writings from Antonio Gramsci, who coincide the term and concept of hegemony. It is a useful resource for those aiming to gain a general overview of his primary works, and a solid starting point for diving deeper into more specific writings on cultural hegemony itself.
Hearn, Jeff. “From Hegemonic Masculinity to the Hegemony of Men.” 2004. Feminist Theory 5, no. 1: 49-72.
Abstract: This article evaluates the usefulness of the concept of hegemony in theorizing men. The discussion is located within the framework of ‘Critical Studies on Men’ (CSM), in which the centrality of power issues is recognized, rather than that of ‘Men’s Studies’, where it is frequently not. Recent uses, as in ‘hegemonic masculinity’ in the analysis of masculinities, are subjected to a qualified critique. Instead a shift is proposed from masculinity to men, to focus on ‘the hegemony of men’. This formulation seeks to address the double complexity that men are both a social category formed by the gender system and collective and individual agents, often dominant collective and individual agents, of social practices. This is explored mainly in relation to substantive studies on men, and briefly the institutional development of CSM. The concluding discussion examines how these arguments connect with debates in feminist theory and social theory.
Im, Hyug Baeg. 1991. “Hegemony and Counter-Hegemony in Gramsci.” Asian Perspective 15, no. 1.
Summary from Intro: Focusing on Gramsci’s theory of hegemony, this paper attempts to examine the following questions: 1) How does the bourgeoisie establish and maintain its hegemony in capitalist society and what is the nature and con- tent of the hegemony? 2) Under what conditions does the bourgeoisie still continue to rule despite the crisis of hegemony? 3) Given the existence of bourgeois hegemony, what will be the most proper strategy of revolution for the proletariat? Can proletarian counter-hegemony be established only after the objective conditions are changed?
Kendie, Daniel. 2006. “How Useful is Gramsci’s Theory of Hegemony and Domination to the Study of African States?” African Social Science Review: 3 (5).
Abstract: Having investigated the relevance of the operative assumptions of Gramsci’s theory of hegemony and domination to African realities, the paper proposes that scholars attempt to devise and articulate a more appropriate theory and methodology. It also proposes that the pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial periods be examined as they relate to the theory of hegemony and domination in Africa, in an integrated form, especially in the interest of studying long-term social change.
Kurtz, Donald V. 1996. “Hegemony And Anthropology”. Critique Of Anthropology 16 (2): 103-135.
Summary: The essay discusses how the contemporary spectrum of the hegemony concept relates to current anthropological interpretations.
Patton, Tracey Owens. 2004. “Reflections of a Black Woman Professor: Racism and Sexism in Academia.” Howard Journal of Communications, 15:3, 185-200.
Abstract: This essay examines the interdependence of racism and sexism in academe. To frame the discussion, the theory of articulation coupled with hegemony was used. The narrative examples cited in this essay illustrate a White supremacist hegemonic structure supported in academia. The essay explicates and illuminates issues of marginalization in academia because it increases awareness about interlocking systems of domination in academia at the microlevel, and, in doing so, exposes important meanings of marginalization at the macro level. Further, salient intersections between discourse and hegemony are critically analyzed because the role communicative interactions play in articulating the experiences of marginality become primary.
Wassmann, Jürg. 2020. Pacific Answers to Western Hegemony: Cultural Practices of Identity Construction. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
Abstract: The destruction of local identity through the relentless encroachment of a ‘McDonald-ized’ cultural imperialism is a global phenomenon. Yet the reactions of Pacific peoples to this Western hegemony are diverse and encourage the creation of independent cultural identities through sports and games, political mediations, tourism, media and filmmaking, and the struggles for land rights and titles, particularly in Australia.This book, based on extensive fieldwork, addresses a subject of great immediacy to peoples of the Pacific Island nations. It fills an important gap in existing ethnographic literature on the region and confidently navigates what had previously been considered uncharted, even unchartable, waters — that wide sea between the classic ethnography of Oceania and contemporary anthropology’s theoretical concerns with global relations and transnational cultures. Its breadth, rigour, and timely contribution to post-colonial politics in Oceania are certain to ensure that this book will provide an enduring contribution to the field.
Williams, Alex. 2020. Political Hegemony And Social Complexity: Mechanisms Of Power After Gramsci. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Summary: Williams’ book explores the expansive concept of hegemony through identifying the political ways hegemony has played out historically. Through exploring various conceptual and theoretical approaches to hegemonic power, the book is a starting point for those looking to understand hegemony as a political concept before exploring the concept of cultural hegemony.