Popular culture: hegemony and counterhegemony

In the present day, popular culture consists of many types such as language, art, the media, technology and political and economic systems. Within society these forms of popular culture arise due to the patterns of behaviour and thinking that people learn, create and share (Encarta 2000). It is interesting to consider who it is that sets the agenda for popular culture; whether it is the people themselves as a majority, or a dominant class in which society conforms to. It seems possible that the dominant class such as media owners, the law and t

Instances of hegemony are numerous, especially through the media in forms of television shows. For example, it is in the best interest of the law and the government that law regulators, such as the police maintain power and control over society. Hence this notion is incorporated into television shows about the police force, as the police are seen as heroes that protect society from the corrupt and enforce morality. Under the hegemonic theory, people watch these shows and gradually without force, conform to the idea that police are moral and that they should obey the law.

‘She kissed a black man,’ Atticus asserted. ‘No code mattered to her before and she broke it’. By this Atticus implied that May Ella had engaged in a counter hegemonic act as she went against the social code by falling for a black man. However as May Ella falsely accused Tom Robinson of raping her, it seems that afterwards she fell victim to the hegemonic process of degrading a black man, knowing that her story would be believable in the society.

Some topics in this essay:
Antonio Gramchi, Kill Mockingbird’, Atticus Finch, Finch Atticus’s, Tom Robinson, , popular culture, counter hegemonic, Jem Finch’s, atticus finch, dominant class, ruling class, white people, hegemonic counter, tom robinson, counter hegemony, black people, ‘to kill mockingbird’, hegemonic counter hegemonic, example popular culture, kachgal online 2000, social norms placed,