Hegemony

Hegemony is the process through which a dominant, influential group in a society spreads its ideology to the rest of the populace - not by force - but by introducing ideas in a more discrete manner so that these concepts become adopted by society at large as "common knowledge" or accepted norms.  Media plays an extremely influential role in this process, as can be evidenced by a simple survey of the ideas and practices of the people one comes in contact with every day.

The basis for this idea is nothing new, and has been in existence and practiced in some form or another throughout history. Although media, in becoming one of the main vehicles for hegemony, has changed the mode through which hegemony has been carried out in more recent generations, the process remains the same.  The great Roman poet Ovid, who died in the first century A.D, wrote that, "dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence." Parallel to this, Thomas Hardy writes in his novel, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, "The constant dripping of water, however slight, can wash away a stone."

These two literary references capture the main concept of how hegemony works: instead of using brute force tactics, the influential, persistent process of spreading ideas in a way so that they become accepted societal norms is a tool with limitless potential that can reshape an entire social landscape.

The first thirty seconds of the narrative below in a trailer for Inception, is prevalent to this discussion on the power of ideas:

What's the most resilient parasite? -  An idea.

A single idea from the human mind can build cities.

An idea can transform the world - and rewrite all the rules.

If an idea is such a powerful phenomena, even in just the mind of one person, then how powerful of a force is created when the same idea becomes shared and accepted by an entire society? Here we begin to see just how powerful and influential hegemony is.

When one group possesses the power and ability to spread their ideology through hegemony, the results are more effective and influential than trying to command the same amount of control through brute force and scare tactics, because the ideas are taken hold of and rooted in the minds of individuals, instead of just carried through in observance when there is someone overhead looking down with a "big stick."

As eluded to earlier through the two literary works, hegemony works though persistence and consistency.  Over time, because of the prevalence of these ideas is at a level where it is next to impossible for one to avoid exposure, the ideas of the dominant group are imprinted on the minds of society. Because they are constantly surrounded by whatever the idea, belief, concept, or practice may be, society becomes desensitized to these. Once the "shock factor" is removed, a door is then opened for actions or ideas once deemed immoral, unsound, or otherwise unacceptable to become, well, accepted. In effect, hegemony works the "rewrite the rules" of a society, so to speak.

Examples of hegemony can be found everywhere that give further understanding to this process. During Thursday's screening of the documentaries Killing us Softly and Tough Guise, I experienced one such example.  The auditorium was filling up quickly, so I assumed a seat towards the front which, I assumed, would allow me to watch with less distraction. This quickly turned out not to be the case, as the person sitting to my left proved to make himself into quite a particular obnoxious distraction throughout the entire screening. As unfortunate (or ironic) as this circumstance may have been, the silver lining has shown itself in the fact that this person is now the lucky topic of conversation in my example of hegemony - Let's call him Steve the Sexist.

Throughout the screening of Killing Us Softly, Steve the Sexist was sure to come up with a witty, overly vulgar comment to go along with every attractive female that was shown on the documentary, including countless references to sex and sexual acts with said women, comments on their bodies, etc. Furthermore, whenever Kilbourne made mention of the very actions that Steve was participating in or the devaluing concepts that media has helped to spread about women, he was sure to comment in some form or another that this was the "way it should be." Little did Steve the Sexist realize, that through his comments, gestures, and actions, he was proving Kilbourne's point exactly, as well as ever so (un)graciously illustrating the concept of hegemony: even in direct opposition to the ideas and actions he deemed "normal" and "acceptable"  that is, the documentary created to expose such actions, their rise, and the wrongs and hurts they cause, he failed to see or even recognize the slightest err or wrong in his actions. The implication here is that hegemony has had such a great impact on Steve the Sexist concerning his view of women that is has effected the roles he assumes for them, and their subsequent objectification in his mind, because such actions and ideologies have been the predominate influence on his thinking.