The problem of hegemony: Rereading Gramsci for organizational communication studies

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to reread the concept of hegemony “against the grain” of interpretations currently dominant in communication studies generally, and in critical organizational communication studies specifically. I argue that the received reading of hegemony as domination through consent has lead to a bifurcation of critical studies into two models of power: a) a dominance model, in which relations of power and resistance are conceptually resolved in favor of the reaffirmation of the status quo; and b) a resistance model, where resistance to structures of domination is valorized in a largely uncritical manner. I attempt to resolve this dichotomy by suggesting that the concept of hegemony be reread within Gramsci's larger philosophy of praxis. Such a move, I claim, enables critical scholars to reclaim the dialectical underpinnings of the Gramscian framework, and to recognize the mutually implicative relations amongst communication, power, and resistance.