Hegemonia

In his Antidosis, Isocrates’ discusses how a superior education in intellect and speech is what sets the Greeks apart from the Barbarians.[1] He further notes that one must respect the people who have received this education, because the educated are in a position of leadership over the uneducated. As is further discussed in Mirhady and Too’s Isocrates glossary, “leadership” stood in for the Greek term hegemonia, because hegemonia referred to the system of political and cultural leadership among the Greek states.[2] The Online Etymology Dictionary lists hegemony as being obviously rooted in Greek hegemonia (leadership), and hegemon (leader), but its meaning even in ancient Greek literature is about more than just leadership. Hegemonia continuously means leadership within military or governmental structures, and not leadership the way we think of it today.

Aristotle took care to differentiate between hegemony and imperialism by distinguishing two different types of government: a hegemony where the government led a group of equals with attention to the interests of all, and a despotic state which employed the domination of others in the ruler’s self interest.[3] When Thucydides wrote The History of the Peloponnesian War, he used hegemonia to mean leaders in both political and military alliances. He may be partly responsible for the shift in hegemonia’s meaning from one of leadership to a meaning focused on power and dominance. Thucydides explained how the voluntary alliance of Athenian states against the Persians, referred to as hegemonia, evolved into an Athenian empire with only self-serving interests.[4]

Hegemony’s place in today’s vocabulary can be greatly attributed to Marxist political theorist Antonio Gramsci. He considered hegemony to be the established supremacy of one group over another, and found it to be inevitable in the maintenance of a capitalist state.[5] Political activity is fundamentally centered on maintaining power, and hegemony is a way of oppressing groups without using violence or force. Contemporary rhetorical studies in theories dealing with oppressed political, racial or socio-economic groups often incorporate discussions of hegemony. Judith Butler’s writings on gender theories discuss the results and workings of a white heterosexual male society that oppresses all other groups through hegemonic superiority.[6] Clearly, hegemonia has taken a great shift from “leadership” within ancient Greece to the oppressive power structure it has come to represent in contemporary society.



[1] Isocrates I. Translation by Mirhady, D & Too, Y. 15. 293-294.
[2] Isocrates I. p. 266.
[3] Fontana, B. (2008). The History of Ideas Vol. 3. .
[4] Wickersham, J. (1994). Hegemony and Greek Historians. Rowman & Littlefield p. 31-33.
[5] Haugaard, M & Lentner, H. H. (2006). Hegemony and Power: Concensus and Coercion in Contemporary Politics. Lexington Books p. 27-30.
[6] Butler, J. (1999). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge.