Hegemony of Ideas

“I guess the simple truth is these things have a lot to do with what ideas get accepted out there. What ideas get promoted and encouraged,” says Linda McQuaig, the author of seven books on Canadian politics and op-ed columnist for the Toronto Star. “One of the problems has been that very wealthy interests have enormous sway and enormous influence over the shaping of public debate through their creation of think tanks and lobby groups, and of course their ownership of the media."

This is ,of course, one of the basic tenets of Marxism that the ideas of the ruling class are always the ruling ideas.
"The ideas of the ruling class are, in every age, the ruling ideas; i.e., the class which is the dominant material force in society is at the same time its dominant intellectual force" - Karl Marx.

Capitalist ideas dominate the political economic and social scene for the capitalist own and control the means of propagation, education, information and news. Thus, all discussion and debate is undertaken on their terms. It should be clear, then, that bourgeois ideology serves capitalist interests not only when it provides pro-capitalist solutions to pressing social problems but also when it confuses people, or makes them overly pessimistic and resigned, or makes it difficult for them to formulate criticisms or imagine alternative systems.