Cultural hegemony is the philosophic and sociological theory, by the Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci, which proposes that a culturally diverse society can be dominated (ruled) by one social class, whose dominance is achieved by manipulating the societal culture (beliefs, explanations, perceptions, values, mores) so that its ruling-class worldview (Weltanschauung) is imposed as the societal norm, which every social class then perceives as a universally valid ideology that justifies the social, political, and economic status quo — as natural, inevitable, and beneficial for everyone, rather than as artificial social constructs that benefit only the ruling class.

The philosophic and sociologic term cultural hegemony derives from the Greek word hegemony (leadership, rule) denoting the indirect imperial dominance with which the hegemon (leader state) rules sub-ordinate states, by the implied means of power, rather than direct military force. In Ancient Greece (8th c. BC – AD 6th c.), hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state upon other city-states. In the 19th century, hegemony (rule) denoted the predominance of one country upon others. In the 20th century, political science extended the denotation of hegemony (dominance) as a theoretic concept central to cultural hegemony, a Marxist explanation of how, by the manipulation of the societal culture (value system and mores), one social class dominates the other social classes of a society, with a worldview justifying the status quo.