#limits of hegemony

[proudlyhopelesslyoptimistic]

The fair was flawed as a mechanism of order because its purposes were inherently contradictory. As much as hegemonic elements wanted to use it to impress the desirability of system and harmony, they also wanted to break down established habits, values, and expectations. Industrial capitalism needed people to experiment with new objects, indulge in new forms of behaviour, abandon certain kinds of restraint, and internalize new desires.

Walden, Becoming Modern, 335.

[proudlyhopelesslyoptimistic]

the traces of working-class consciousness within popular culture in the postwar period also show the limits of corporate-liberal hegemony. They testify to profound popular dissatisfaction with the hierarchies and exploitations of the cold war era.

Lipsitz, Rainbow at Midnight, 276.