The Gonzo Style as a Tool of Critical Pedagogy Used to Overcome Oppressive Power Structures - Hegemony

Antonio Gramsci (1957; 1973) used the term “hegemony” to denote the dominance of one social class over others. He maintained that the dominant class asserted its beliefs over those of others, who accepted them as common sense, in return for certain benefits from the hegemonic class. Thus the compliance of those being ruled over was essential to the relationship. As Gramsci considered common sense to be a constantly flexible state, he suggested that ongoing struggle was necessary in order for the hegemony to continue. This treatise was made in opposition to Marx’s (1930) original assertion that once the oppressed realised their position, they would revolt, leading to eventual revolution by the proletariat class against their bourgeois rulers. Gramsci argued after many years, that this predicted revolt had not occurred because the oppressed classes were subjected to social conditioning and were therefore incapable of understanding that they were oppressed and accepted the imposition of the ruling values as common sense. This view has been applied directly to education by authors such as Hill (2007).

[post written May 2010]