On hegemony

In this volume, as in my others, I often employ a word found in the last sentence of the previous paragraph: hegemony. It is a concept with a long and varied history .33 It remains one of my favorite concepts, not because of its poetics as it slips off the tongue (which it doesn't do anyway) and not because it gives a person instant theoretical legitimacy (in some circles it makes people nervous). Rather, I use it because of its usefulness as a tool in unpacking crucial parts of not only the powerful economic and family agenda I just discussed, but also of the cultural agenda of restorational politics in education. It is an essential tool in uncovering some of the ways in which differential power is circulated and used in education and the larger society.

The concept of hegemony refers to a process in which dominant groups in society come together to form a bloc and sustain leadership over subordinate groups. One of the most important elements that such an idea implies is that a power bloc does not have to rely on coercion. (Although at times it does. Think of the fact that the United States incarcerates a larger percent of its population-and especially men and women of color-than any other nation of its type in the world.) Rather, it relies on winning consent to the prevailing order,' by forming an ideological umbrella under which different groups who usually might not totally agree with each other can stand. The key to this is offering a compromise so that such groups feel as if their concerns are being listened to (hence, rhetoric is essential in this process), but without dominant groups having to give up their leadership of general social tendencies. As I argued earlier in this chapter, this is exactly what has happened in so many of our nations as rightist discourse becomes increasingly dominant in the formation of our common sense. 3' The fact that we are tacitly returning to a form of the workhouse test and to a condition of denying person rights to many of the poor-and that this is becoming widely accepted-documents my point.

It is, of course, crucial to note that in any given historical situation, hegemonic control can be found only as the partial exercise of leadership by dominant groups, or by an alliance of dominant groups, in some, but certainly not all, spheres of society. The most powerful forces in our societies will not be equally successful in the economy, in the law, in statefinanced educational institutions, in the mass media and the arts, in religion, and in the family and civil society as a whole. 36 As Jim McGuigan states, "The dominant culture never commands the field entirely: it must struggle continually with residual and emergent cultures. -37 Equally important is the fact that while hegemonic relations often have been thought of in class termsand it is of great import to continue to think of them in that way-as I noted, it is essential that we always recognize the multiplicity of relations of power surrounding race, gender, sexuality, and "ability. "

Race-which is not a biological entity but a social constructionprovides an example here. 38 Take the attempt by neoconservatives to have schools and the media create a single, unitary "American identity." It is not imposed, in the usual sense of that word. Rather, it is put forward by an alliance of dominant groups in a way that the alliance hopes will enable all the other groups it wants under its ideological umbrella to find something in it for themselves. Yes, some of you are in very shaky economic circumstances, feel culturally or religiously marginalized, are condemned to attend what are seen to be failing schools that are racially tense and underfunded, and are feeling immensely insecure in nearly all parts of your life. Some of you live in rural and urban areas where conditions are nearly as bad as those I noted in my opening story in this chapter. But "we" are all one. We are all part of one identity, a nation of immigrants. This is hegemonic discourse at its creative "best."

Edward Said nicely points to part of the danger: