Gramsci's Influence On Culture And Politics

Culture and politics are embedded amongst society through our everyday tasks and in the establishments incorporated through our community. Antonio Gramsci is an Italian theorist who describes this as hegemony, which is a political predominant influence, cultural dominance or authority that exercises over nations or individuals. In the media there has been current talk of an Australian Aboriginal football league star Adam Goodes, who over recent months has been booed and mistreated by fans during football games. In a recent interview with Aboriginal Australian journalist Stan Grant on ABC’s Lateline, Grant said of Goodes, “This is an extraordinary man but when he hears these boos, like all of us the wound is re-opened because success doesn't close the wound.”1 This essay will use Gramsci’s concepts of culture, hegemony, politics and identity to thoroughly exam this statement by Grant to gain a higher understanding of the cultural and identity struggle experience by Aboriginal Australians.

Cultural hegemony is the dominance of a cultural society (the ruling class) who have the power to influence the
Hegemony is the political influence, cultural dominance or authority that exercises over another cultural community. Hegemony can impact greatly upon a cultural communities independence, beliefs and tradition. Once used as a strategy of dominance cultural hegemony in todays contemporary society is a fixed concept in our history, everyday lives and is established through our community, social groups and cultural societies. Nevertheless hegemony does not only impact upon the cultural community but also on the individuals of that society. The identity of an individual can be impacted and adapted through the consequence of cultural hegemony. Overall cultural hegemony does not just impact upon the cultural society but also on the identity of individuals from these cultural