sawsaw Hebdige

After reading this passage from Hebdige, I am immediately reminded of an example of hegemony while traveling in West Virginia last Spring Break. I went with my church on a missions trip to serve an impoverish family. This family had absolutely nothing. There was eight people living in a one bedroom house with only one toilet and no shower. I was completely astonished that people were living like this in America. Since this family was so poor and needy it was “socially unacceptable” for people to associate with them. Most of the people around them lived in normal houses with all the common necessities. This family was under the control of the middle to wealthy social class. They were seen by others as being a “charity case” and were pitied by others. It was really great to be able to go and love on these people and be genuine in helping them. We wanted to help them because they really needed people to help not because we were ashamed or embarrassed by their living conditions.

I find Hebdige’s quote on page 150 to be very interesting. He writes, “The class which is the ruling material force of society is at the same time its ruling intellectual force.” This was so true of the family in West Virginia. Since the people in this family from West Virginia never received a formal education they were seen as stupid and unintelligent. This quote really expresses the harsh truth that people who come from low class households are viewed as being intellectually stupid because they are not a part of the ruling material force of society.