Clinical Sociology and Moral Hegemony

Hans Petter Sand

University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.

DOI: 10.4236/aasoci.2013.37034                

Abstract

The article presents a critique of a dominant way of analysing gang conflict in Norwegian sociology. The research in question uses a rather crude Marxist analysis that could somehow fit any gang conflict in the country. However, this kind of analysis was gradually put in question first by professor Ottar Brox and his criticism of the moral hegemony by a group of Marxists gathered around the publication “Klassekampen” (“Class Struggle”). Then the analysis was challenged by gang-researchers who reached back to the classical study of Frederic M. Thrasher, finding the latter more fruitful for analysis. Antonio Gramsci (1891- 1937) who coined the term cultural hegemony used it to describe how a social class can manipulate the system of values in a society to establish a ruling class world-view. In my context the term moral hegemony is used to show how an intellectual group came to dominate the discourse on relations between Norwegians and immigrants, labelling other views as “racist”.

Keywords

Gangs; Marxist Framework; Moral Hegemony; Contested; Frederic M. Thrasher

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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