The dominant ideology survives because of its

An essential function of hegemony involves convincing people to support the existence of a social system that does not support them in return. Marginalized groups do not often protest or revolt against ideologies that overwhelmingly support privileged groups because, on some level, they consent to being dominated. This prompts an immediate question: why would anyone consent to such an arrangement? While dominant ideologies may reflect the desires and interests of socially powerful groups, for these ideologies to remain hegemonic they must also feature an additional promise: it is in the best interest of the marginalized groups to accept these beliefs as well. Members of socially powerful groups act to have their world view accepted as the universal way of thinking, and members outside these groups come to accept some of these ideologies because they appear beneficial in some way. This is referred to as a process of spontaneous consent, because it is typically informal or unnoticed. For example, a dominant belief within a nation's higher education system suggests that college students should pay for their own education. Despite being affected by the belief, students accept it, and the ideology survives. When such consent fails, however, hegemony explains how dominant ideologies evolve to contain this failure through a process of flexible appropriation. In such a situation, dominant cultural institutions will absorb any challenging beliefs, integrate them into the hegemonic matrix, and re-establish the previous norm. As a result, hegemonic systems never go away; they simply change form through a constant give and take between social groups.