Philippine E-Journals

The Role of Intellectuals in Shaping Hegemony, Consent, and Political Emotion

Oliver A Dueza | Gerlie C Ogatis | Anna Josa T Ortiz

 

Abstract:

This paper aims to expose the underlying forces which shaped the hegemonic character of the Philippine civil society. The ideas of Gramsci written in his prison notebooks remained relevant even at present, especially in understanding the capitalists’ control of social and political affairs. The state of the Filipino society today mirrors Gramsci’s conception of capitalism and its influences on the political and social affairs. Despite Karl Marx’s prediction of its death, the capitalist class managed to evolve, and it even survived with ethical measures involved. It is here where Gramsci believed that there is a need for the intellectuals to take a stand and form counter-hegemony against the capitalist control. One of the means to achieve a collective hegemony is by gaining consent from all levels of social strata. Doing so will demand an awareness of the political emotion that binds citizens together for them to feel that they belong to one hegemonic group. Thus, this paper tried to analyze in great deal, how capitalism maintains hegemonic control in our civil society and explain at the same time the necessary role of the Filipino intellectuals in forming contradiction in the given economic and political order.