Antonio Gramsciâs ideas feel urgent today, especially when we think about the devices that shape our lives. He wrote from a prison cell, trying to understand why the revolution he had fought for had failed. His answer, in part, was that power wasnât just about brute force. It was about winning the hearts and minds of the people, making the ruling classâs worldview seem like the only possible one. This, he argued, was the real work of power: to make domination feel like common sense.
This is where our devices come in. They are not just passive tools. They are active participants in the construction of our reality. They are designed to capture our attention, to shape our desires, to make certain ways of being in the world feel natural and others feel impossible. The endless scroll of a social media feed, the gamified incentives of a fitness app, the algorithmic recommendations that guide our choicesâall of these are mechanisms of a new kind of hegemony, a digital hegemony that operates on a scale Gramsci could have only dreamed of.
But Gramsciâs work is not a counsel of despair. It is a call to action. By understanding how hegemony works, we can begin to resist it. We can create our own âorganic intellectuals,â our own counter-hegemonies. We can build platforms that are designed for connection, not for profit. We can use our devices to organize, to educate, to build a more just and equitable world. The first step is to see the prison, even when itâs made of glass and silicon.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the concept of cultural hegemony as defined by Antonio Gramsci.
- Analyze how power operates through the creation of "common sense."
- Apply the concept of hegemony to contemporary digital devices and platforms.
Key Concepts
Hegemony
Power, in its most obvious form, is about force. A government can use its police or military to enforce laws, a corporation can use its economic might to crush a smaller competitor. But Antonio Gramsci, writing from a fascist prison in the 1920s and 30s, saw a more subtle, and perhaps more powerful, form of control at play. He called it hegemony. Itâs the way a dominant group in society wins the consent of the masses, making its own values and beliefs seem like the natural, inevitable âcommon senseâ for everyone.
This isn't a conspiracy. It's a complex process of negotiation and compromise, where the ruling class absorbs some of the ideas and demands of the subordinate groups to maintain its leadership. Think of it as a cultural and moral leadership, not just a political or economic one. For our purposes, this is crucial. Devices aren't just neutral tools; they are carriers of this hegemonic culture. The design of a social media feed, the default settings on a smartphone, the very language of a user agreementâall of these are shaped by and help to reproduce a certain worldview, a certain set of assumptions about what is normal, desirable, and possible.
Common Sense
Gramsci was fascinated by what he called âcommon senseââthe collection of uncritical, often contradictory beliefs that we all carry around with us. Itâs the stuff we take for granted, the things that âeverybody knows.â But this common sense isnât neutral. Itâs the bedrock of hegemony. Itâs where the dominant ideology becomes our own, where we internalize the values of the ruling class without even realizing it.
This âcommon senseâ is often a messy mix of folklore, religion, and practical knowledge, but itâs also shot through with the assumptions of the dominant culture. When we say things like âpull yourself up by your bootstrapsâ or âthereâs no such thing as a free lunch,â we are often repeating ideas that serve the interests of the powerful. In the context of DEVICES, the âcommon senseâ of technology is that it is always new, always better, always leading to progress. This uncritical acceptance of technological solutionism is a powerful hegemonic force, blinding us to the ways that devices can also be instruments of control, surveillance, and exploitation.
Organic Intellectuals
If hegemony is a battle of ideas, then who are the soldiers? Gramsci argued that every social class produces its own âorganic intellectuals.â These aren't necessarily academics or writers in the traditional sense. They are the organizers, the technicians, the managers, the artists, the influencersâanyone who helps to articulate and spread the worldview of their class. The ruling class has its organic intellectuals in the form of CEOs, politicians, and media moguls. But subordinate classes have them too, in the form of union organizers, community leaders, and activists.
In the digital age, the role of the organic intellectual is more important than ever. The coders who design algorithms, the marketers who create viral campaigns, the influencers who shape our tastesâall of these are organic intellectuals, whether they know it or not. They are the ones who are building the hegemonic culture of the digital world, one line of code, one meme, one sponsored post at a time. Understanding this helps us to see that the struggle over technology is not just about the technology itself, but about the ideas and values that are embedded within it.
Assignment
Read selections from Gramsci's *Prison Notebooks*. Focus on the sections that discuss the state and civil society, the concept of hegemony, and the role of intellectuals. As you read, consider these questions: How does Gramsci's understanding of power differ from a more traditional Marxist view? How can we see hegemony at work in the digital platforms we use every day? What would it mean to build a counter-hegemony in the digital realm?
Read: Selections from the Prison Notebooks Knowledge Check
Reflect on the key topics in this lesson.
1
What is the difference between domination and hegemony?
Hint: One relies on force, the other on consent.
2
Why is "common sense" so important to Gramsci's theory?
Hint: It's the site where ideology becomes naturalized.
3
Who are the "organic intellectuals" of the digital age?
Hint: Think about who is shaping the ideas and values of the online world.
Additional Resources
Supplementary materials for deeper exploration.
The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere
Habermas's classic work on the rise and fall of the public sphere provides a useful counterpoint to Gramsci's theory of hegemony. While Gramsci focuses on the way power operates through consent, Habermas is more interested in the possibility of rational-critical debate.
The Society of the Spectacle
Debord's theory of the spectacle, in which social relations are mediated by images, offers a powerful lens for understanding the hegemonic power of digital media. For Debord, the spectacle is not just a collection of images, but a social relationship among people, mediated by images.