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Similarly, Woodfin asserts “in essence, it describes the process whereby one social group
achieves and maintains power over subordinate groups primarily through the latter’s consent,
secured through ideological process rather than through direct coercion” (2006, pp. 133-134).
Furthermore, this understanding of hegemony in its non-physical context can be recognized
in the context of contemporary society as:
Gramsci understood that dominant power in the 20 th century was not always
exercised simply by physical force but also was expressed through social
psychological attempts to win people’s consent to domination through cultural
institutions such as the media, the schools, the family, and the church. (Kincheloe &
McLaren, 2005, p. 309)
Finally, the work of Althusser on symbolic domination via schooling practices contributes to
this project through the textbook as one (of many) mediums that official schooling practices
and knowledges is provided to students. Of this, McCarthy writes:
…it is the institution of schooling, as Althusser (1971) reminds us, that is principally
organized around the production of knowledge and the production of meanings. It is
schooling, via its instrumental (rules and bureaucratic organization) and expressive
(rituals, etc.) orders, that generates and regenerates representations of the social
world. (1990, p. 7)
To summarise, this section has outlined the specific aspects of hegemony relevant to this
project emphasising non-physical acts of power exercised in curriculum contexts.
2.5 Dominant discourses.
In providing an explanation of dominant discourses, Rogers writes:
Discourses are intimately related to the distribution of social power and hierarchical
structure in society, which is why they are always and everywhere ideological.
Control over certain Discourses can lead to the acquisition of social goods (money,
power, status) in a society. These Discourses empower those groups that have the
least conflicts with their other Discourses when they use them. Let us call Discourses
that lead to social goods in a society dominant Discourses, and let us refer to those
groups that have the fewest conflicts when using them as dominant groups.” (2004,
p. 6)
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