ABSTRACT
Any public realm in modern or modernizing states is a battlefield on which diverse cultures fight to determine the cultural character of the society. Usually, conflicts between different cultures are controlled or mediated by the state through the rules-of-the-game imposed by it, its institutions and agents. On one extreme there are states that possess full control over the cultural character of the society. In this situation the state is an autonomous actor able to impose and maintain a hegemonic situation. Hegemony is a political-cultural phenomenon described by Antonio Gramsci as ideological domination of one segment of a collectivity over other segments, through the possession of a monopolistic cultural power-position which enables the definition and construction of 'realities', as well as the proper rules of the game within a society and state.1 As formulated by Carnoy,2 hegemony is a successful attempt of a dominant segment of society 'to use the political, moral and intellectual leadership to establish its view of the world as all inclusive and universal and to shape the interest and needs of subordinate groups'. In political terms, where hegemony is high there is little need for coercion and force.3
