ABSTRACT
Hegemony has two distinct meanings for social and political theorists. Hegemony can refer to dominant power. Hegemony can also refer to struggle between different groups for social ascendancy or dominance. The most influential theorist of the conception of hegemony was Italian philosopher and social theorist Antonio Gramsci. Gramsci was a Marxist who was imprisoned under Benito Mussolini's Fascist rule in the 1930s. A crucial aspect of Gramsci's thought is the recognition that different classes and groups have their own organic culture and intellectuals. Conservative, liberal, and even progressive education authors put on a pedestal the allegedly good schools of rich communities in the suburbs. Dominant educational policy likewise positions these schools as idealized models for urban and rural schools in poor communities. Gramsci's work insists that the work that teachers do matters in how it enacts the future, forms students as particular kinds of people, and sets the conditions for how people will collectively address public problems.
