Hegemony and counter-hegemony in the narrative of nickel downstreaming in Indonesia: A critical theory study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61511/spms.v2i2.2025.2769Keywords:
counter-hegemony, critical theory, hegemony, nickel downstreamingAbstract
Background: Nickel downstreaming policy represents Indonesia’s national development ambition in response to the global energy transition discourse. The state deploys political strategies through legal regulations and ideological strategies through dominant narratives to sustain the nickel downstreaming project. The emergence of counter-narratives articulated by subordinate groups indicates an ongoing struggle over the meaning of development within the nickel downstreaming agenda. Methods: This study employs a qualitative descriptive approach, with data collected through documentation and literature review. Data were analyzed using data condensation, data display, and conclusion drawing and verification. Finding: The findings reveal that within a hegemonic system, the state functions as the organizer of consent, acting as an extension of capitalist interests to disseminate capitalist logic through mass media. Economic and development narratives are predominantly employed by the state to construct public consent. Conversely, subordinate groups, organized by organic intellectuals, resist and challenge the state’s dominant narratives by advancing social and ecological narratives. These counter-narratives seek to generate new forms of consent by offering alternative interpretations of nickel downstreaming as a destructive and exploitative practice. Conclusion: Mass media, as a communication institution, has become a key arena for the contestation between hegemony and counter-hegemony through narrative struggles between ruling groups and subordinate groups. This contestation reflects a crisis of state hegemony, wherein the ideological legitimacy of development is challenged by counter-narratives that demand social and ecological justice. Novelty/Originality of this article: The originality of this article lies in its application of Antonio Gramsci’s theory of hegemony to analyze narrative struggles surrounding nickel downstreaming in Indonesian mass media.
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