Antonio Manwathe And Barthe's Role Of Mythology In Modern Society

Barthes is concerned with the role of myth in modern society, how it is constructed and sustains meaning as a systematic force. By myth, he means ideology understood as a body of ideas and practices, which by actively promoting the values and interests of dominant groups in society, defend the prevailing structures of power. This also relates to Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci's concept of hegemony. Gramsci used the term hegemony to denote the predominance of one social class over others. This represents not only political and economic control, but also the ability of the dominant class to project its own way of seeing the world so that those who are subordinated by it, accept it as 'common sense' and 'natural'.
In the most recent Vedanta advertisement, we are presented with a romanticised version of rural life. The ad tells us

Thus, the aanganwadis, computer education, healthcare and mid-day meals are the various ways in which the dominant group (Vedanta) negotiates with the subordinate group to gain their consent. In Gramsci's theory, the dominant group gains its power from its position in the economy and therefore, the concessions granted are mostly economic in character. However, hegemony is also a terrain for negotiating ideas and values, so the the subordinate groups must also recognize their own ideas in the prevailing hegemony. The Vedanta Group obviously realised that simple rehabilitation packages will not allow them to gain the consent of the villagers, and thus extended their “generosity” towards building a better life for this anonymous village. Viewers are now made to consume the image of Vedanta as a benign corporation, only trying to help. Mukesh Kumar, a top-executive from Vedanta, claims that, “Our effort is to bring the poor tribal people into the