cultural hegemony

is a 'domination or rule achieved through ideological means. The ability of a group of people to hold power over social institutions, and thus, to strongly influence the everyday thoughts, expectation, and behavior of the rest of society by directing the normative ideas, values, and beliefs that become the dominant worldview of a society.

a concept articulated by Italian scholar and activist Antonio Gramsci, refers to domination, or rule, achieved through ideological (cultural) means. The term refers to the ability of a group of people to hold power over social institutions, and thus, to strongly influence the everyday thoughts, expectation, and behavior of the rest of society by directing the normative ideas, values, and beliefs that become the dominant worldview of a society.' http://sociology.about.com/od/C Index/fl/Cultural-Hegemony.htm

is expressed by the acknowledged taste of the higher, more educated classes as the only taste to aspire to.

The 'traditional definition of 'hegemony',' Raymond Williams explains, 'is political rule or domination, especially in relation between states' but that 'Marxism extended the definition to rule or domination to relations between social classes, and especially to definitions of a ruling class' (1977, 108). For Bourdieu, cultural hegemony is expressed by the acknowledged 'taste' of the higher, more educated classes as the only taste to aspire to.

cultural hegemony, n.Definitions

cultural hegemony