Why The Subordinate Classes Go Along With The Status Quo?

Marxist theorist argues that institutions like education, state, and mass media justify the stereotypical images of superiority and inferiority coinciding with class position. This in terms of Marxian theory, the relationship of dominance and subordination in the infrastructure is justified and legalized by the super-structure. For example, in capitalist society the unequal relationship between employees and employers will be reflected and legitimized in the legal system. A range of legal status protect the rights of property owners and in particular their right to a disproportionate share of the wealth produced by their employees. Marxists argue that such an analysis of the relationship between the infrastructure and super-structure tells
Why don’t they revolt against class division? The answer lies in the state power and domination which is based on the twin themes of coercion and violence. Gramsci argues that state coercive power and consent or ideology is located within civil society with the spontaneous consent of the people. Althusser theorizes this as the repressive state apparatus which consisted of the army, the police and the prisons. This is the ideological state apparatus consisting of religion, schools and media. In reality most of these institutions use the combination of coercion and consent, for example, the army demands cohesion and discipline by inculcating certain ideologies although, it mainly functions by repression. Likewise, schools use methods of punishment although they are mostly about ideology. For Gramsci, coercion and consent come together to form what he called “hegemony”. Hegemony is a former role in the subordinate group consent to the exercise of power or domination. Gramsci uses the metaphor,” When state tremble, a steady structure of civil society was at once revealed, the state was only a added ditch behind which stood a powerful system of fortresses and