Neoliberal globalization, hegemony and Occupy Wall Street Movement: A Neo-Gramscian analysis

The 2008 economic crisis in the capitalist international economic system resulted in a dramatic decline in the growth rate of national economies of many countries around the world, an economic stagnation that almost led to bankruptcy and a rise in unemployment rates. The counter-hegemonic challenge to the hegemony of the US, the main promoter of neoliberal globalization, began in September 2011 by the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protests. Emphasizing that their basic demands were about social justice presenting themselves as "We are 99%" the movement participants protested the richest 1% of the US. This study argues that the emergence of such a challenge of hegemon neoliberal order through the OWS movement in the US can be considered as the beginning of an alternative world order which can only be established by a long-lasting struggle for cultural change of the emancipatory social forces. In this context, the movement is analyzed within the framework of Neo-Gramscian approach, which puts the concept of hegemony at the center of its analysis. Furthermore, the study examines the OWS movement by employing the theoretical tools provided by the New Social Movement Theory which focuses on both the political and cultural dimensions of new social movements and the way they challenge the prevailing norms, identities and power relations.