Challenging Hegemonic Ideas

Hegemonic ideas are like the "default" settings of a culture.  They are the "common sense" ideas that say things like,

• "Boys have to be tough to survive,"
• "The best health care goes to those with the most money,"
• "Supply and demand is what determines prices,"   

When an idea is so widely shared that most people have internalized it, it can be said to have achieved hegemony within the culture.  The feminist movement and anti-racist organizing are examples of conscious challenges to the Deep Propaganda of the traditionally hegemonic ideas of sexism and racism.

~Nygaard