In one of the key concepts with which we have to come to grips is that those in subordinate positions in a society will always have a better understanding of the dominant group than the dominant group does of the subordinate group or groups. This idea is at the root of many of the difficulties we have in working or communicating across racial/ethnic, gender, and cultural lines. Dominant groups or societies have what is known as hegemony – cultural dominance that creates an environment in which the subordinate group's identity becomes marginalized and devalued. The insidious aspect of hegemony is that it is not always deliberate but instead results from activities and ways of doing things that become routine.
An overly simplistic, but illustrative, example is the concept of majority rules. In a democratic process, the will of the majority takes precedence over the wishes of the minority. The difference between this and hegemony is that, in the democratic process, will is determined by choice in which all parties have an equal voice, usually a vote. In hegemony, minority voices may not be heard, may be dismissed as irrelevant, are simply brushed aside, or are incorporated into an ideology of dominance that assumes that the interests of the majority and minority are exactly the same. The latter is the most problematic. It is based on ethnocentrism and establishes institutionalized standards and behaviors that further undermine and trivialize the minority group identity by deeming their social understandings as inappropriate, primitive, non- or counter-productive, unhealthy, immoral, and the like.
This week, we will explore how subordinate groups form their identities, establish their interests while maintaining them in the face of hegemonic forces, and increase dominant group awareness.