Hegemony in Nazi Germany

Whether we are aware of it or not, we are powerfully influenced by the media every day. New as well as familiar ideas are being introduced and reinforced to us each time we turn on the television, read the daily newspaper or even drive on the highway. But who chooses what these ideas are? Which ideas are so special that those are the ones allowed to be repeated? The authority social clusters possess over other groups to accomplish this is known as hegemony. But hegemony consists of multiple different aspects. It cannot be defined by a single advertisement, or even a whole magazine. To really define hegemony, we must look at the bigger picture. The presence of hegemony suggests that the group projecting the idea is using its power to constantly drill that idea into the population - ad after ad after ad. Crossing the line from 'subliminal' to 'hegemonic' occurs when the message has affected the population in the long run, when the presented idea is perceived as the common knowledge of daily life.
If we take a look back to World War II, hegemony was essential to Adolf Hitler's reign. Publication of anti-Semitic propaganda was at an all time high while anti-Semitism was forced in to the everyday life of Germans. Jews were marked by patches, banned from patronizing certain businesses, required to attend separate schools, and segregated from the rest of the population until ultimately dumped into ghettos and completely severed from society. So it is not just one, but all former examples working in unison which make up hegemony. These actions not only reinforced Hitler's big idea, but allowed it to define what was considered 'normal' in German culture.



image from: http://www.hausarbeiten.de/faecher/vorschau/105489.html