Hegemony

Hegemony in its original sense denoted the domination of one nation over another. However, its more complex and more common meaning is associated with the work of Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci. His concept of cultural hegemony speaks to how one social group maintains domination over another social group. In the field of curriculum studies, hegemony in this sense has been used to explore and explain the role of various curricula in ensuring the domination of White, middle-class, heterosexual, and male worldviews.

In trying to figure out why the workers' revolution predicted by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had not occurred, Gramsci proposed the concept of cultural hegemony to explain how—in a diverse society—one social group maintains domination over another social group. Key to Gramsci's theory is ...