Class Domination and Ideological Hegemony

Abstract

Sociological theory poses the issue of whether ideational or coercive factors provide the central basis of social order. The former view maintains (and requires) that a value consensus exist in the empirical world; the latter assumes the existence of a ruling class which dominates the ideational institutions of the society. A preliminary scrutiny of available evidence suggests that: (1) a value consensus does not exist, and (2) there is a high concentration of wealth and economic control which appears to extend into vital political and ideological areas, thereby implying the existence of a dominant or ruling class. Based upon these conclusions, the concept of ideological hegemony is introduced as a significant component of a Marxist view of social order. The hegemonic process is described and available evidence is examined in the areas of political socialization and mass media. A pattern in which debate and discussion are circumscribed while alternative values and world views are ignored or suppressed was found to characterize these two areas. This pattern was seen to provide further support for the Marxist view that an ideological hegemony imposed by the dominant class is the ideational manifestation of a social order based upon coercion. THE PROBLEM of social order has been of persistent interest to social and political theorists. The most fundamental issue in the theoretical debates has been whether coercive or ideational forces provide the more central basis for social order. Two well-defined positions have emerged: 1) Following Durkheim, Parsons and his followers have asserted that ideational factors (e.g., cultural values) provide the bedrock of social order; 2) the Marxist position has held that the ideological superstructure emerges in response to the existing social structure defined in terms of coercive economic and political social relations. In the latter view, the dominant class in the society is able to reinforce its material control through the successful extension of that control to the ideational arena, specifically within the institutions of civil society (cf., Marx and Engels, 1947:39).