which knowledge and beliefs are first, produced, and second,
disseminated. Here the crux is the formation of a “conception of
the world” and its dissemination throughout the people. A
conception of the world (an "ideology" or a system of beliefs)
is always opposed to different conceptions of the world. Thus
these are constantly in conflict, in a “battle” against each
other, and the hegemonic conception is one which has become the
“common sense” of the people.
But a counter-conception is
constantly generated, even if only embryonically, to challenge
the prevailing common sense.
This battle or contest of opposing views of the world
means that hegemony is preeminently a political concept: that
is, the organization of culture is at once the organization of
power. Thus to be political is to be hegemonic, or minimally to
attempt to move toward a new hegemony, that is to be counter-
hegemonic.
What hegemony underlines, therefore, is the political and
cultural question regarding the formation of a group or a
subject capable of rule. In other words, a hegemonic
relationship, while necessarily political, is and must also be a
pedagogic relationship–-that is, the conflict among opposing
hegemonies, and the germination of a counter-hegemony, require
the formation and evolution of what Gramsci calls a
Convention