Hegemony
“The heavy, saturatig omnipresence of the way thiigs are. It refers to the most everyday facts of
life as these are lived within the forms and structures we like to thiik we have freely chosei.”
(Iiglis, 1990:81).
Hegemoiy is not given and permanent. It has to be actively struggled for aid won.
Wiiiiig coiseit aid legitmacy is a continuous process of formation.
The iiterests of the domiiait group teid to prevail but oily to a certaii poiit.
Claim that their word = truth.
Chomsky propagaida model
Easy to see how media serves elites ii a repressive state.
Harder to do so where the media are private aid formal ceisorship is abseit.
Traces routes by which money and power flter out news, marginalize dissent aid get goverimeit
aid domiiait private iiterests to get their message to the public.
Shows how public opiiioi becomes shaped ii a democratc society by getig the public to buy iito
domiiait / hegemoiic ideologies.
Domiiait ideas about the world are iiterialised.
Key factors:
1. Size, owiership aid proft orieitatoi of the mass media
Size of iews carrier afects operatoial expeiditure- stafig aid sourciig iews
Corporate-owied iews carriers are less likely to compromise holdiig compaiies’ iiterests
Accouitability to shareholders aid iot to the public
Key objectves: iicrease profts aid market shares; lower stafig aid operatoial costs
Freelaice culture: jourialists ofei doi’t get employee beiefts
2. The Advertsiig Liceise to do busiiess
Need to subsidise high operatig costs.
Advertsers’ choices, iot coisumers, determiie media’s survival.
Focus oi audieices with buyiig power.
Reductoi of media to a 1-way-aveiue for marketig
Ceisorship without state iiterveitoi
Corporate iiterests held above the public iiterest
3. Sourciig of mass-media iews
Syidicated iews: circulatoi of iarrow iews perspectves
, News is ofei sold to other iews statois
Reliaice oi goverimeit aid corporate sources
Lower operatoial costs
Need for ‘accuracy’- daiger of lawsuits
Leads to ageida beiig small
4. Flak aid the Eiforcers
Coverage may respoid fak / iegatve respoises
May be costly (withdrawal of advertsers’ patroiage)
5. Aitcommuiism as a coitrol mechaiism
Coistruct biiaries to fragmeit critcal voices / disseit
Islamophobia: the war oi terror
Bush 9/11 iivoked laiguage of the Crusades: racialised the discourse
Discourse of crisis aid war makes iifriigemeit of libertes possible: surveillaice, iivasioi of
iatois, deteitoi etc
How do dominant / hegemonic ideologies and discourses
remain dominant?
1. Repressive State Apparatuses (RSAs)
Iisttutois of force used to coitrol people
Police, courts, army, repressive laws, ceisorship. Threat of violeice.
Disadvaitages: coercioi is high maintenance aid breeds further disseit (the holdiig or expressioi
of opiiiois at variaice with those commoily or ofcially held.).
2. Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs)
No real coercioi ieeded; relies on persuasion / consensus / consent
Iisttutois of socialisatoi aid persuasioi used to coitrol people: religioi, educatoi, media, family
Make us of key sites of socialisation: religious iisttutois, educatoial iisttutois, the family, the
media.
ISAs beloig to the private domain aid refer to private iisttutois.
Interpellation works at this level: describes the process by which ideology, embodied in major
social and political institutions (ISAs aid RSAs), constitutes the very nature of individual subjects
identities through the process of "hailiig" them ii social iiteractois
“The heavy, saturatig omnipresence of the way thiigs are. It refers to the most everyday facts of
life as these are lived within the forms and structures we like to thiik we have freely chosei.”
(Iiglis, 1990:81).
Hegemoiy is not given and permanent. It has to be actively struggled for aid won.
Wiiiiig coiseit aid legitmacy is a continuous process of formation.
The iiterests of the domiiait group teid to prevail but oily to a certaii poiit.
Claim that their word = truth.
Chomsky propagaida model
Easy to see how media serves elites ii a repressive state.
Harder to do so where the media are private aid formal ceisorship is abseit.
Traces routes by which money and power flter out news, marginalize dissent aid get goverimeit
aid domiiait private iiterests to get their message to the public.
Shows how public opiiioi becomes shaped ii a democratc society by getig the public to buy iito
domiiait / hegemoiic ideologies.
Domiiait ideas about the world are iiterialised.
Key factors:
1. Size, owiership aid proft orieitatoi of the mass media
Size of iews carrier afects operatoial expeiditure- stafig aid sourciig iews
Corporate-owied iews carriers are less likely to compromise holdiig compaiies’ iiterests
Accouitability to shareholders aid iot to the public
Key objectves: iicrease profts aid market shares; lower stafig aid operatoial costs
Freelaice culture: jourialists ofei doi’t get employee beiefts
2. The Advertsiig Liceise to do busiiess
Need to subsidise high operatig costs.
Advertsers’ choices, iot coisumers, determiie media’s survival.
Focus oi audieices with buyiig power.
Reductoi of media to a 1-way-aveiue for marketig
Ceisorship without state iiterveitoi
Corporate iiterests held above the public iiterest
3. Sourciig of mass-media iews
Syidicated iews: circulatoi of iarrow iews perspectves
, News is ofei sold to other iews statois
Reliaice oi goverimeit aid corporate sources
Lower operatoial costs
Need for ‘accuracy’- daiger of lawsuits
Leads to ageida beiig small
4. Flak aid the Eiforcers
Coverage may respoid fak / iegatve respoises
May be costly (withdrawal of advertsers’ patroiage)
5. Aitcommuiism as a coitrol mechaiism
Coistruct biiaries to fragmeit critcal voices / disseit
Islamophobia: the war oi terror
Bush 9/11 iivoked laiguage of the Crusades: racialised the discourse
Discourse of crisis aid war makes iifriigemeit of libertes possible: surveillaice, iivasioi of
iatois, deteitoi etc
How do dominant / hegemonic ideologies and discourses
remain dominant?
1. Repressive State Apparatuses (RSAs)
Iisttutois of force used to coitrol people
Police, courts, army, repressive laws, ceisorship. Threat of violeice.
Disadvaitages: coercioi is high maintenance aid breeds further disseit (the holdiig or expressioi
of opiiiois at variaice with those commoily or ofcially held.).
2. Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs)
No real coercioi ieeded; relies on persuasion / consensus / consent
Iisttutois of socialisatoi aid persuasioi used to coitrol people: religioi, educatoi, media, family
Make us of key sites of socialisation: religious iisttutois, educatoial iisttutois, the family, the
media.
ISAs beloig to the private domain aid refer to private iisttutois.
Interpellation works at this level: describes the process by which ideology, embodied in major
social and political institutions (ISAs aid RSAs), constitutes the very nature of individual subjects
identities through the process of "hailiig" them ii social iiteractois
