The Study On Laclau And Mouffe’s Hegemony Theory

Marx once predicted that with the continuous development of Capitalism, socialrelations would tend to be simplified, producing more real class antagonisms, and theworking class, with a growing awareness of the revolution inevitably developed duringthe process of the intensified pauperization, would eventually overthrow the Capitalism.However, an indisputable fact of the history after the World War II is that capitalistcountries continue to move ahead through their own constant adjustment, and theworking class hasn’t become revolutionary due to poverty, on the contrary becomecomplicated and fragmented because of the adjustment of industrial structure as well asthe new technological revolution. In this context, some Marxist scholars believed thatthe working class, as an organized and cohesive social group, no longer existed. Theybegan to abandon the ambitious interpretation of historical materialism and make anattempt to find a revolution planning suitable for the new situation of the Post-Fordcapitalism and the transnational capitalism. So the Post-Marxism came into being withLaclau and Mouffe as important representatives.Laclau and Mouffe put forward the radical democratic strategy of hegemony as acore in the Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. He trying to cater to contemporarydiversified social development and keeping the Marx doctrine of radical at the sametime. The study represents a new direction of contemporary western doctrine ofMarxism. The hegemony theory of Laclau and Mouffe is a compromise to the realworld in essence. The compromise is not only reflected that he is zealous in interpretingthe world, more important is that the nature of the language makes this theory becamea discourse revolution in the end.The main work of this paper is explaining thehistorical and social background of Laclau and Mouffe’s hegemony theory. It analyzes some thought resources that have influence on hegemony theory. The point is analyzesthat the philosophical foundation and the basic connotation of the Laclau and Mouffe’shegemony theory. Meanwhile it explores their new socialist strategy–radical pluralisticdemoeracy three to the reconstruction of socialist. Finally, it tries to penetrate thepresent effect and limitation of theory of Laclau and Mouffe’s hegemony theory frommultiple perspectives of the contemporary philosophy.