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- We are the agents of change Stoddart 7
- Discussing hegemony spills over to the political agenda Tang 11
Heg Reps FrameworkDiscussing hegemony in academic settings is key to create social changes and prevent corruption Walsh 8 (John staff at the University of Rhode Island “The critical role of discourse in Education for Democracy” http://www.jceps.com/PDFs/6-2-04.pdf)JC As students learn to become active and engaged democratic citizens they are continually faced with contradictions inherent in early 21 st century democracy including: the advantages of wealth in running for office, the conflict between the ideal of the government deriving its powers from the people and the reality of the people being subjected to the power of the government, just to name two. Rather than educate for democracy, the ideology of democracy may function in such a way as to preserve the current political system through hegemony in order to achieve the consent of present and future generations for the maintenance and reproduction of the current relations of domination. Throughout this project I refer to dominant ideologies not a dominant ideology. This is intended to emphasize that ideology is not a unified and cohesive phenomenon. What is known is the dominant ideology consists of many oppressive and exploitative ideologies. Sometimes these ideologies work in tandem to sustain existing relations of domination and at other times they contradict one another and provide opportunities for dialectical analysis. In their discussions, the students sometimes challenge one ideology while sustaining another. Hegemony refers to the manner in which consent is garnered from the masses so that social relations based on domination appear to be normal and natural (Gramsci, 2000). Antonio Gramsci (2000) theorized that the dominant social system is imposed on the general population through hegemony and direct domination. According to Gramsci, the dominant group exercises hegemony to extract consent from the portion of the population which is not part of the dominant group. Those who are not persuaded through hegemony are subject to direct domination through the legal state apparatuses used for enforcing discipline. Of course, their legality is a result of the dominant group‟s control of the political / legal system. In this sense, Gramsci‟s conception of hegemony is consistent with Althusser‟s (2001) representation of the relationship between repressive State apparatuses and ideological State apparatuses and Marx‟s (1978) contention that the ruling class produces ideology. Leadership, according to Gramsci, is a prerequisite for gaining political power and the leadership responsible for hegemonic domination rests with those who act as intellectuals for the dominant group. Here, Gramsci is approaching Marx‟s contention that ideology begins with the division of labor into mental and material production. Gramsci‟s solution to the problem of the ruling class controlling mental production is the development of organic intellectuals from within non-ruling classes (Gramsci, 2000). Every social group has its “own stratum of intellectuals” (Gramsci, 2000, p. 251). This is not to say that some people are intellectuals and some are not; Gramsci is careful to explain that all people are intellectuals but the social function of some is purely intellectual. Said another way, some people‟s relation to society is to produce material goods or services, and others provide “intellectual and moral leadership” (Gramsci, 2000, p. 249). The intellectuals of the dominant group play a significant role in hegemonic dominance, especially when social, political, and economic crises arise. If hegemony were not able to garner consent then direct domination would be required, or at least its use would be more visible (Gramsci, 2000). When such crises reach a climax it is the role of the intellectuals within oppositional groups to exercise “intellectual and moral leadership” (p. 249) in order to gain political power (Gramsci, 2000). Organic intellectuals, developed from within non-ruling classes, have the potential to provide leadership roles within these movements as they can help other members of their class build class consciousness of the hegemonic representations used to justify existing social relations (Gramsci, 2000). The United States may just be at such a critical juncture in the early part of the 21 st century. The contradictions of the crisis of the conservative restoration and the expansion of the global neoliberal project are beginning to become clear as the United States is engaged in a perpetual global war, the gap between the haves and the have-nots increases, inequality based on race and gender persists, and the environment continues to be destroyed. During this time the political forces of the dominant group struggle to conserve and defend the existing social structure for their own benefit (Gramsci, 2000). Meanwhile the intellectuals of the dominant group construct discourse which normalizes government support of corporate hegemony and abolishes the role of the government in achieving social justice (Harvey, 2005). It is in this historical epoch that the social groups opposed to domination must rely on their own organic intellectuals to provide intellectual and moral leadership for the transformation of society. While these intellectuals may operate in many sites, the primary site for challenging hegemony and for the development of organic intellectuals may exist within schools. We are the agents of change Stoddart 7 (Mark phD candidate at the department of sociology at the University of British Colombia “Ideology, Hegemony, Discourse: A critical Review of Theories of Knowledge and Power” http://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/dspace/bitstream/1808/5226/1/STARV28A9.pdf)JC Gramsci also asserts that hegemony has a material dimension. It is not only a system of ideas, floating above economic structures. Rather, the social action of everyday life produces hegemonic effects. Writing about the emergence of Fordist production in the United States, for example, Gramsci (1992) describes an American hegemony that is “born in the factory” (p. 169). Gramsci (1996) describes how the interplay of our cultural and material surroundings constructs hegemony as follows: The press is the most dynamic part of the ideological structure, but not the only one. Everything that directly or indirectly influences or could influence public opinion belongs to it: libraries, schools, associations and clubs of various kinds, even architecture, the layout of streets and their names (p. 53). Furthermore, hegemony often lies beneath the surface, unarticulated. As Williams (1977) writes, “A lived hegemony is always a process. It is not, except analytically, a system or a structure. It is a realized complex of experiences, relationships, and activities, with specific and changing pressures and limits” (p. 112). This illustrates how hegemony works as a sort of common sense, rather than as a coherent body of thought, such as we would associate with ideology. Gramsci gives us an image of society in which the cultural realm is a central location for the exercise of social power. By comparison with the Frankfurt School theorists, however, hegemonic power is something that is always contested, always historically contingent and always unfinished. He ascribes a high level of importance to the subaltern classes, intellectuals, and revolutionary political parties as agents for social change. For Gramsci, a revolutionary seizure of the means of production is not a viable tactic for creating radical social change in modern capitalist societies. Where a society is characterized primarily by the exercise of hegemonic power instead of coercion, a prolonged cultural “war of position” is more important, where the hegemony of the ruling classes is dissembled and a new hegemony is crystallized (Femia 1975: 34). This occurs as subaltern groups realize their own capacity to become philosophers of their daily experience; they come to understand the hegemonic common sense that they otherwise take for granted. The Gramscian model of hegemony departs significantly from the Marxist notion of ideology, while retaining Marxist foundational categories of class, the capitalist mode of production, and the dis- tinction between the economic base and the cultural superstructure. Among the advances made by Gramscian theory is the attention to hegemonic power as an often-implicit “common sense” rather than a coherent body of thought, which is inherently unfinished and historically contingent. It is the embodiment of hegemony in everyday common sense, through the mundane activities connected with work, school, the family and the church, that secures the consent of capital’s subaltern classes. Discussing hegemony spills over to the political agenda Tang 11 (Harry member of the Comimittes of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, the Northwest Central Labor Council “More on Ideological Hegemony: The Education system” http://heartlandradical.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-on-ideological-hegemonythe.html)JC I have been thinking a lot about “ideological hegemony;” how and why we think about the political world in the ways we do. I do so not to add another layer of theory to an already complex set of arguments about economics and politics. Nor am I interested in immobilizing political activists. Rather, I think progressives need to think about how to challenge the ideas that most of us are supposed to accept and believe. Of course, the primary public institutions that transmit ideas and ways of thinking to people, from the start to the end of their educational careers, are schools. Our friends on the Right know how important it is to shape schools at all levels. Early in this century I remember hearing Rush Limbaugh say on one of his radio programs that “the only institutions we do not yet control are the schools” With this as a goal, just the other day we read stories about Koch brothers’ money financing faculty positions at Florida State University in economics (presumably Marxist or structural economists need not apply). Just a week earlier a story broke about rightwing efforts to cut and splice public recordings of lectures in a labor studies class at the University of Missouri to leave the impression that the instructors are advocates for labor violence. Using the methods of vilification and distortions that worked successfully against green jobs advocate Van Jones, community action group ACORN, and Shirley Sherrod, an African American employee of the Department of Agriculture, attacks on education are growing. The use of more sophisticated technologies than in the days of McCarthy or David Horowitz’s print crusades against “dangerous professors” are becoming common. In addition to smear campaigns and using money to shape hiring practices at universities, access to varieties of knowledge remains very much constrained by institutional and political pressures, from kindergarten through high school and college. For example, we can talk about two subject areas, militarism and economic orthodoxy. Both subjects were prominently featured at an elementary school, Mayflower Mill Elementary School in Lafayette, Indiana. As the local newspaper, the Journal & Courier reported approvingly on May 12, 2011: “When Mayflower Mill Elementary students were told they would be able to hear the approaching helicopter that would land behind the school before they saw it, their ears perked up.” Although the noise they first heard was only a delivery truck, soon a Bell UH-1H Huey helicopter which was used in Vietnam, and piloted by a group of veterans, arrived. The pilots were part of an organization committed to maintaining a positive public image of the helicopter. The helicopter and its veteran pilots spent the day at the elementary school, called by the school “Operation American Pride,” “After Wednesday’s landing, students broke into groups…..including lessons on flag etiquette and the life of the soldier.” Kids got to go in the helicopter, sit behind a Humvee, and a military truck. The whole day was a celebration of the military, military values, super-patriotism. One student referred to experiencing the helicopter as “cool” and “exhilarating.” Organizing the day’s activities took combined efforts of members of military families, community donations, support from the Army National Guard and members of Purdue University’s ROTC. Of course, the activities required the full cooperation of teachers, the principal, and members of the school board. I wonder what would have happened if a parent or brave teacher had proposed that “Operation American Pride” include an historical discussion of the millions of Vietnamese people who died in the U.S. war in that country; or perhaps, if course material include reference to the 57,000 American soldiers who died in the war or the lingering effects of Agent Orange on subsequent generations of Vietnamese and U.S. veterans. In addition the J & C reported on May 16, that fourth and fifth graders at the same school recently completed a class project simulating commerce and manufacturing. Students designed and sold products to their school mates (and the money earned went to recognized charities such as the American Heart Association and the local fire department). Kids produced “slime,” decorated pencils, and chocolate coated plastic spoons. Students designed their products, shopped for supplies, and produced and sold them. The teacher, it was reported, has done a similar project every year because she said about students that “they need to understand finance.” The newspaper reported that the project was supported by long-time economics education lobbyist and think tank, the Indiana Center for Economic Education. An ICEE spokesperson, who offered a program that the teacher had taken years ago, spoke about the lessons kids learned: “The basics of operating their own business, the fact you’ve got to produce a product customers want and counter the cost of resources you need.” The spokesperson claimed the exercises such as at Mayflower Mill highlight real issues which sometimes get lost in teaching more dominant subjects. I wonder if students learned anything about the historic role of organized labor in the state, high unemployment in Indiana, growing economic inequality, the forty year deindustrialization of the state economy, and the differences in economic opportunity between African Americans, other minorities, and whites, and between men and women. Almost accidentally, I accessed stories about political struggles from 2004 until today at my old high school, Senn High School, in Chicago. It seems that the high school which over forty years ago was white and middle class was now populated by young people from working class and poor African American, Latino, and immigrant families. By the new century it was experiencing problems in reference to academics and social order. The authorities, the City alderwoman, the head of the Chicago Public Schools, Arne Duncan, Mayor Daley, and the military came up with a “great” idea. They created in 2005, over the objections of students, teachers, and community activists, the Hyman Rickover Naval Academy which occupies a large physical space in the high school and has enrolled at least 25 per cent of the student population. Meanwhile programs to teach English as a second language and advanced placement courses for college preparation were reduced. The teaching staff in the non-military portion of Senn High School was cut by 33 per cent. CORE (Caucus of Rank and File Educators) continues to challenge the militarization of the Chicago school system. In our communities we need to work in solidarity with those immediately involved in educational institutions. Where issues of militarism and economic orthodoxy shape school curricula our voices need to be heard. Our political agenda, in sum, needs to address as best our resources allow what we learn, how we learn it, and who controls the institutions that shape our thinking and the thinking of young people. Directory: files files -> Answer True False 2 points Question 2 files -> Integer programming and game theory files -> 4 Integer Programming files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. Objective files -> Pop Warner History files -> North Carolina Inclusion Initiative Mapping Where Children with ieps are Being Served Purpose files -> Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Program Data: Standard 1 Exhibit 4d files -> Hanban – asia society confucius classrooms network 2010 request for proposal files -> Northern England’s set-jetting locations Download 0.86 Mb. Share with your friends:
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