Hegemony and Capitalism

I really want to understand all of the different concepts and idealogies being read and discussed in class, and the most helpful tactic for me, before reading anything I try to unnderstand what it is that we will be dealing with. "Theories of hegemony attempt to explain how dominant groups or individuals can maintain their power- the capacity of dominate classes to persuade subordinate ones to accept, adopt, and internalize their values and norms." (Wikipedia definition) I found Gramsci much easier to read then Williams but I believe both are dealing with the same concepts.

Gramcsi says," All men are potentially intellectuals in the sense of having an intellect and using it, but not all are intellectuals by social function." He categorizes class in society into two maingroups: the tradtional and the organic. Gramsci sees the intellectual as " performing an essential mediating function in the struggle of class forces...most important...polical struggle."(p 1) I believe we see this very concept in our society today even though we do live in capitalist situation. Why Marx and many philosophers doomed capitalism boggles my mind a bit. To them, the rise of power and money shared with the free individuals of the society would only lead to a major downfall of that society. However their ideas are slightly archaic in thinking that for a society to be truly free there should be no idea of personal freedom. Why is it then that capitalism has not met its downfall? I truly believe it is because we are all stronger as free individuals then given credit.

I wasn't quite sure at first why reading many different stories would help understand, Marx and his ideas of class and their struggles, but upon completion do feel I have a better understanding. "Marxists regard literature as both production and reflection of and on culture and society and political world in order to change it... Marxists agree that literature is produced in material conditions, that it reflects back upon those conditions and can help to change them." (p 103 Modern Literary Theory) In Great Expectations this is most definitely applied. Dickens uses his book to illustrate the two syptoms of class struggle that he himself suffered from: work and debt. Also dealing with idea of captialism is the Marxist reading of "Rudolph the red-nosed Reindeer". This illustrates how something so simple such as Christmas has become a driven capitalistic machine. Is this necessarily a bad thing though? I mean, the Christmas sales boost our economy tremendously each year, so does it matter if the reindeer kids didn't intially except Rudolph? Are we being so analytical here that we actually draw reference to the huge scary teeth of the Abominal Snowman as the clinches of the Christmas season taking a huge bite out of our wallets?
The reading of Girl touches on the idea of class and capitalism a little differently for me. It seems to tie into the Marxist idea a bit more in the fact that the mother teaches the girl that you are in the class you were born into, however you can raise the market value of yourself " in the subsequent exchange of her body and labor for an acceptable place in society as wife/domestic... Neither the mother or the daughter can escape social order." (p 1)That's probably because of all the contradictions being taught and learned, rather then being oppressed and kept down. The
mother teaches the daughter, in essence, how to be a slut without the consequences (pregnancy). The mother wants the girl to act proper and strive for the best in life and yet that most certainly isn't the message perceived by the girl when being told to use men and almost exploit them for personal gain. "The girl will go nowhere, within or beyond the narrative of what her work-her life- entails. She is without any means for social advancement; she will always need to make ends meet." (p3) This is because she has not been taught anything usesful to actually progress her intellect or strive for success. In the world of capitalism, you need to take advantage of all the resources we have to better ourselves, not being a slut, that won't get you anywhere but on the welfare line with a child clinging to each leg.