Hegemony as a trend

In the reading “Hegemony” by Antonio Gramsci, he defines hegemony by defining the word itself as well as by discussing its relationship to intellectuals and the state.  One example of hegemony as Gramsci states; is when “the supremacy of a social group manifests itself in two ways, as domination and as intellectual moral leadership”. (12) Therefore, the interests of one particular social group are made to be the interests of all the other subordinate social groups through a combination of force and consent.  In order to better understand this definition of hegemony, a quote from the reading “Hegemony” by Storey stood out to me as well, because it paints a clearer picture of what Gramsci means when he describes hegemony in relation to a state having control over the interests of its citizens whether political or social as well as how intellectuals use their knowledge and ability to profit from hegemony. 

In this reading, Storey states that “popular culture is what men and women make from their active consumption of the texts and practices of the culture industries” (65). He uses youth subcultures as an example because even though youths try to break free from the commercialized material goods and music that corporations are coercing them to like,  the move away from mainstream culture does not last long because “culture industries eventually succeed in marketing subculture resistance for general consumption and profit” (65). With this being said I was reminded of the store hot topic. It’s a store where you can find all the rebellious clothing, accessories, and albums you need but the store itself and the clothing it sells as well as the meanings attached to this kind of image has become commercialized and just  another profitable hegemony trend.