Theoretical question:
How does online communication mediate the relationship between power and culture?

Research question:
Which variables best predict the usage of hegemony online?

Hegemony:
An iterative process whereby people in power deepen their dominance by using culture to negotiate for the consent of the subjugated.

Counterhegemony:
An alternative process whereby people attempt to gain dominant power by countering, co-opting and compromising dominant culture. It is not the opposite of hegemony; it is merely someone else's hegemony — one that has not yet become dominant.

Pluralism:
The sharing of power among groups in society. It is the opposite of hegemony and counterhegemony.

Hegemony online:
A cybernetic process whereby people in power deepen their dominance by using online communication to negotiate for the consent of the subjugated.

Cybernetic:
A system that uses continuous feedback to control and progressively correct unsatisfactory actions.

Ideology:
Culture directed by power; i.e., the culture favored and manufactured by society's dominant coalition.