Penny Lane- Hebdige

"Society cannot share a common communication system so long as it is split into warring classes."
The aforementioned quote was the opening line of Hebdige's section on 'Hegemony: The Moving Equilibrium." I would have to entirely disagree with this statement in the context of present society. If any thing, mass media (our common communication system), serves as a means to assimilate, subdue, and isolate issues of class in the mainstream. Although it remains evident that the American perception of class is massively distorted, few recognize what is causing this disillusionment. More often then not we utilize media outlets to ascertain the current condition of our social, political, and economic environment. However, individuals rarely stop to think who is controlling theses representations. Most people have faith in the sources of the information they consume, but underneath the grand façade basic ideology sneakily enters the public sphere. Hegemonic views of class, wealth, and national priorities are established and reinforced by the forces that systematically strive to control the mass perspective. Concentration of media ownership, domestic and global, is in a sense impeding the democratic process by promoting issues of the elite (hegemonic class). "Hegemony can only be maintained so long as the dominant classes succeed in framing all competing definitions within their range, so that subordinate groups are, if not controlled; then at least contained within ideological space which does not seem at all "ideological." While communication was once held to be an outlet for oppositional expression, the commodification of our daily interaction and education has hushed the back talk. Stereotypes of race, gender, and socioeconomic division are reproduced in our news and entertainment to promote the established order. The disadvantaged often become complacent to their isolation. For this reason, the revolution predicted by Marx is more fantastical than practical in today's context.