this post was submitted on 16 May 2026
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Chapotraphouse
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Imagine thinking that soft power through pop culture is actual material power lol
It helps a lot tho, otherwise Europe and Latam wouldn't be so fucking mentally cucked by The Great Satan
It's the other way around tho. Gunboat diplomacy for latam and the Marshall plan for Europe established the material groundwork for American culture to grow in.
It's a feedback loop
Like some kind of structure that sits above the grounded structure, a supra structure and the foundation...? Hrmm. I'll work on this theory
Yes, the word above 'creates' was misplaced. However, the cultural hegemony has grown into a beast which has helped reformed that material basis many times over since
Cultural hegemony also maintains the material base of empire by making the metropole's priorities and perspective "common sense", it just happens that common sense always works out in its favor. .
Base and superstructure etc.
Exactly. I think it's also worth noting that it's not as if soft power isn't material. Soft power is not idealism it's just not as straightforward as direct military might. What Alaskaball said is true of course, but those things also feed back into soft power which in turn makes US hegemony, military dominance, and imperialism (like gunboat diplomacy, Marshall plan, etc.) more accepted and even supported by the vassals and the imperialized populations. Not unlike how base and superstructure both form a reinforcing and reproducing feedback loop with each other.