Hegemony

Abstract

Hegemony—sometimes referred to as “cultural hegemony”—refers to the dominant position of one group in relation to another within a society, the ways in which this position is frequently underpinned and maintained through various cultural institutions and practices, and the group that challenges the prevailing status quo. The term originates from the Ancient Greek ἡγεμονία —primarily denoting “authority” or “sovereignty”—and was used to describe such relationships both within and between city-states. In contemporary rhetorical studies, the concept is perhaps most strongly associated with the work of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, who define hegemony as a “political-tropological movement.” A central concern for Laclau and Mouffe is the transition between different hegemonies—a process they argue is made possible by the fundamental “rhetoricity” of the human world. For Laclau in particular, establishing a hegemony involves using an act of naming to point toward the “impossible point” that separates a given linguistic system from its “outside” (since a direct definition of that outside would, in effect, incorporate it into the system). In other words, turning to rhetoric is an attempt to explain what makes a hegemony possible, as well as how other hegemonies can challenge and replace it (Laclau and Mouffe.

Cite

APA

Stagnell, A. (2026, April 23). Hegemoni. In K. Bjørkdahl (Ed.), Nordisk retorikkleksikon. Nordisk retorikförening. https://retorikkleksikon.no/hegemoni/

@incollection{stagnell2026hegemoni,
  author    = {Stagnell, Alexander},
  title     = {Hegemoni},
  booktitle = {Nordisk retorikkleksikon},
  editor    = {Bjørkdahl, Kristian},
  publisher = {Nordisk retorikförening},
  year      = {2026},
  url       = {https://retorikkleksikon.no/hegemoni/}
}