NDM: Marxism, Pluralism and Hegemony

NDM: Marxism, Pluralism and Hegemony

1) Research the Ian Tomlinson case. What would the traditional, hegemonic view of the police be in a case like this? How did new and digital media create a different story? What does the police officer's subsequent acquittal suggest about the power of new and digital media?

Ian Tomlinson died when a police officer struck him with a bat at the 2009 G20 summit march in London. Originally the police claimed that,'London. Originally the police issued a statement that:

described attempts by police medics and

an ambulance crew to save his life after he

collapsed – efforts they said were marred by

protesters throwing missiles as first aid was

administered.'

Without the invention of Web 2.0 and the ability to share amateur content on places such as youtube this crime would have gone unpunished and the traditional hegemonic view that the police are above every other class in society would have been reinforced.

2) What does the author argue regarding whether hegemony is being challenged by Web 2.0? 

The author suggests that it is being challenged as people can directly challenge government through the use of new and digital media. 'Technology empowers the people' this is important as access to smart phones and other recording devices as well as blogs and streaming/video sharing sites allows people to give their unmediated opinion. However, in places like China or North Korea where the government still has heavy influence on what the people share and view web2.0 isnt as significant on the whole world but its impacts so far have been felt.

3) In your opinion, does new and digital media reinforce dominant hegemonic views or give the audience a platform to challenge them?

I believe it does both but more so gives the audience the platform to challenge them as without this the hegemonic views would exist without challenge and whilst the audiences arent completely empowered its better than not having any kind of platform to challenge the hegemonic views.

4) Do recent world events such as Brexit or Donald Trump's election in the US suggest dominant hegemonic ideologies are being challenged or reinforced? There are arguments for both sides here - explain your opinion and why.

I do believe they are being challenged as especially in the world of politics things are changing and not in the way people expected as things have gone to the 'extreme' right of the political spectrum which is the opposite of what many people would think that would challenge hegemonic views. By voting for things like Brexit in the UK and electing Trump in the US this could be a protest of people protesting the already hegemonic leaderships in the world. In the US election many supporters of Bernie Sanders a candidate of the democrat party leaning towards the extreme left arguably had more support than Clinton and after his loss in the primaries an influential amount of his supporters went to supporting a candidate on the extreme right-Donald Trump. I believe that this is a protest of the people against government control just swung in the opposite way many had not expected to happen.