Blackwell Reference Online

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The term “hegemony” (derived from the Greek hegemon: leader, ruler, or guide) is generally used in literary and cultural studies to denote how power is used to construct and maintain the consent of those governed. In this sense, it has recently been associated with questions of identity politics and the politics of culture. However, “hegemony” is also used in a number of different and even inconsistent ways. For example, it is commonly used as a synonym of “superpower,” as in the global hegemony of the US. The emphasis is often on the pervasiveness of power, or its “total social authority” ( Hebdige 1979 : 15–16). Thus when writers such as Noam Chomsky use it in describing the US it is almost synonymous with “cultural imperialism” without significant emphasis on the choices of those who consent, as with other usages. Hegemony as a concept concerning international relations goes back to ancient Greece where it described the preponderance and leadership of Athens or Sparta among the other city-states ( Fontana 1993 : 207). This usage became common again in the nineteenth century, for example, when describing the role of Prussia within the German states ( Williams 1983 [1976]: 144). Isocrates, Plato, and Aristotle also used hegemony in a more general sense, for example, Isocrates' statement, “logos hegemon panton” (“speech and language are the ruler and guide of all things”). Aristotle ... log in or subscribe to read full text