Preface There is something at work in our society that we seldom see or hear, yet, at the same time, we both undergo and shape it every day again. That’s hegemony. Hegemony colors how we think and what we do, how we live and how we work. The people around us think and do things in a certain way and so we think and do the same. Because we believe that’s how things ought to be. Although this seems fairly straightforward, an unequivocal description of hegemony is not so easy. The word has a long history and depending on the domain in which it is used, the interpretation differs. In international relations, hegemony relates to the dominance of certain states. In sports, we speak of the hegemony of a team or of individual athletes within a discipline. In political philosophy and sociology, “cultural hegemony” refers to “the dominance of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class who manipulate the culture of that society - the beliefs and explanations, perceptions, values, and mores - so that the worldview of the ruling class becomes the accepted cultural norm.”1 This view of hegemony was developed by the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci. What do all these approaches have in common? Time and again, the "hegemon" (a leader or leading group) is in a dominant position and exercises power over others. There’s always a form of coercion at play. But much of what we think and do as citizens on a daily basis, we think and do because that is the way it should be done, without anything or anyone forcing us. Without anything being imposed on us. Within a theory of hegemony this is called consent (assent, acceptance) and common sense. In this booklet, hegemony (how we think and what we do) is disconnected from the typical power relations we attach to certain
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