Hegemony is the human-made political concept describing a form of social power in which a dominant group secures the voluntary compliance of subordinate groups not through coercion but through the cultural and ideological control of meaning — the shaping of common sense so that the dominant group's interests appear as the natural, universal order. It carves a mechanism of power that operates beneath force: the production of consent through institutions (education, media, religion, law) that define what counts as normal, reasonable, and inevitable. Parameters include (1) the institutional channels through which dominant narratives are disseminated, (2) the internalization of these narratives by subordinated groups, and (3) the exclusion or marginalization of alternative framings. It persists through the reproduction of educational curricula, media ownership structures, and the institutionalization of specific worldviews as professional knowledge. [formal: hegemonia | substrate: behavior | horizon: generations | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.03]
Accepted ontology entry
hegemony
Hegemony is the human-made political concept describing a form of social power in which a dominant group secures the voluntary compliance of subordinate groups not through coercion but through the cultural and ideological control of meanin…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made concept in political science and sociology describing how dominant groups maintain control not through force but through manufactured consent — shaping culture, norms, and institutions so their rule appears natural. It is the map of a power dynamic, not the power itself; the concept persists through academic discourse, critical pedagogy, and institutional critique.
Names and aliases
- hegemonyen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrdu5m340011p7dyff229gwvDEPENDS_ON →
Hegemony is rule by consent rather than force — the dominated accept the dominant's authority because ideology shapes what counts as normal, natural, and legitimate. Remove ideology: the mechanism of consent disappears, leaving only raw coercion. Hegemony cannot function without ideology operating as its substrate.
- cmrdu61d40018p7dytt2q2mbyINSTANCE_OF →
hegemony is a specific form of power — the dominance of one group over others achieved through consent and ideological control (Gramsci), not mere coercion. Specific→general.
- cmrcnd4s200k813vzg0mmcfy1INSTANCE_OF →
hegemony IS a specific kind of influence. Its accepted definition carves it as 'a form of social power in which a dominant group secures voluntary cooperation of a ruled population through cultural norm diffusion.' Hegemony is a particular mechanism of social influence — the specific kind where dominance is maintained through consent rather than coercion. A competent speaker would call it 'a kind of influence.'
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 17, 2026, 2:23 PM UTC
- Content hash
- ae6d0bd72f14484c4e8f6b94c5ea1dbc4a762659d1b4fed21384b451f2b85111