... dominators. The hegemony that exists today is arguably more decentralized, insidious and diffused than the domination at the hands of a ruling class. The recognition of hegemony does not tell us what legal system to create once the hegemony of the existing system has been identified. In this paper, the law will be viewed not only as the instrument of a dominant class, but also as the mechanism for the constitution of a dominant hegemony that has become so commonsensical that it hardly appears worthy of challenge. Gramsci's Concept of Hegemony Prior to his Arrest At the time when Gramsci began his writings on hegemony, the term was gaining relevance in some parts of Europe, particularly in Russia and Italy. Gramsci believed the concept was an offspring of Lenin's philosophies (Adamson, p172), but this assertion has proven to be somewhat erroneous (Anderson, p15). Gramsci possibly encountered the term in the writings ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now