“Cultural Hegemony” is a Marxist idea about how the oppressive elite impose their elitist oppression onto the masses. This is part and parcel of Marx’s own idea of “base and superstructure”.
It is a worldview and analytical framework that imposes presupposed conclusions, and one which is increasingly adopted by not only the Left, but also the purported Right. It’s overthrow requires one to be “woke” about the systems of oppression as James Lindsay notes, quoted in full full below due to the limitations of Twitter/X embeds.
“People want a ‘simple’ explanation of ‘Woke’ that they can understand. There’s a problem, though. You cannot define ‘Woke’ without understanding the not-easy concept of ‘cultural hegemony.’
“You cannot understand Woke Left or Woke Right without understanding cultural hegemony.
“You cannot understand why Tucker Carlson is Woke Right without understanding cultural hegemony.
“You cannot understand why the post-liberal Right is Woke Right without understanding cultural hegemony.
“You cannot understand why CRT, Queer Theory, radical feminism, or all the rest are Woke Left without understanding cultural hegemony.
“You can reduce it down to identity politics, victimhood centrality/culture, cancel culture, smearing, mob abuse, a ‘based ritual’ or ‘Woke ritual,’ or whatever else, but you will never understand it until you understand cultural hegemony.
“Woke means having ‘woke up’ to the ‘realities’ of cultural hegemony. It is cultural Marxism or a kind of quasi-fascist reaction to cultural Marxism that plays on the same turf. When we say ‘Woke means having a critical consciousness,’ what it means is ‘having a critical consciousness of cultural hegemony.’
“Woke Left is therefore Left-wing Cultural Marxists, i.e., Left-wing Gramscians.
“Woke Right is therefore Right-wing Cultural Marxists by Reaction, i.e, Right-wing Gramscians or Right-wing Counter-Gramscians, if you want.”
