Hegemonic Building

Throughout history monumental buildings have been employed for hegemonic purposes. Through their prominent location, imposing scale, striking style and opulent finish such buildings are ventures in conspicuous investment, designed to signify the authority of the prevailing social order and its ruling class. Hegemonic building can be seen as part of the broader social process of cultural hegemony first described by the Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci. He sought to explain how the ruling class maintains its ascendancy over the subordinate classes in society by influencing their values and beliefs so that the status quo becomes accepted as inevitable, legitimate and even beneficial. The dominant ideology of the ruling class becomes the cultural norm for the whole of society, enabling power to be exercised through consent rather than coercion. Through their symbolic presence and historical resonance, monumental buildings are particular effective instruments for the propagation of cultural hegemony. They feed that enduring sense of collective identity that animates the whole of society. Such buildings provide more than just a symbolic presence; they can be used as theatres of spectacle to deliver an explicit hegemonic message. In addition to its use value and exchange value, a hegemonic building is invested with symbolic capital through the visual language of architecture. Each architectural signifier used in its design denotes the function and connotes the meaning of the building. Where monumental buildings cluster together, for example in city centres, the whole ensemble creates a broader urban landscape of power. This landscape is a visible expression of the prevailing social system in which the hegemonic force of the whole exceeds that of the sum of its individual buildings. As cities evolve through time, the landscape of power is in a continuous state of flux in response to successive waves of hegemonic building, each creating a new generation of monumental buildings and a new landscape of power. The book explores this dynamic through the evolution of Monumental London during successive golden ages of hegemonic building spanning two millennia from its foundation in the Roman period to the present day. For London has been a city of monuments throughout its existence, perhaps more so than any other world city.