ANTHRO 30A Lecture Notes - Louis Althusser, French Communist Party, Counterhegemony
Document Summary
Hegemony: set of beliefs/values that people accept as justifying the rule of the dominant class. Gramsci meant the permeation throughout society of an entire system of values, attitude, beliefs and morality that has the effect of supporting the status quo of power relations. Hegemony encourages society to accept the rule of the dominant class (people believe this is good for them) For marx and gramsci, the state is controlled by the dominant class. Gramsci believed that hegemony tended to prevent revolution. People among the lower classes believed that the hegemonic system is in their own interests. Gramsci argues that traditional intellectuals are deputies for the dominant class. Gramsci argued that in the past, tradition intellectuals were religious leaders. In europe, in the feudal period, the catholic church was the primary means of reproducing hegemony. Under capitalism, the church is no longer the primary means of maintaining hegemony, instead it is education! He argues that traditional educators now promote hegemony.
