A class becomes hegemonic when its elite transcends narrow corporate interests

Evidence

The Third Estate was the least homogeneous; it had a very disparate intellectual elite, and a group which was very advanced economically but politically moderate. Events developed along highly interesting lines. The representatives of the Third Estate initially only posed those questions which interested the actual physical members of the social group, their immediate “corporate” interests (corporate in the traditional sense, of the immediate and narrowly selfish interests of a particular category). The precursors of the Revolution were in fact moderate reformers, who shouted very loud but actually demanded very little. Gradually a new elite was selected out which did not concern itself solely with “corporate” reforms, but tended to conceive of the bourgeoisie as the hegemonic group of all the popular forces. … This selection occurred through the action of two factors: the resistance of the old social forces, and the international threat. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 473

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces ‘corporate’ interest as the immediate selfish interests of a category, the basest stage later Gramsci literature builds upward from toward hegemony and the ethical state.
• XREF: The corporate-to-hegemonic progression is core scaffolding vocabulary needed before Islamophobia-adjacent readings on how ruling blocs represent particular interests as universal. — connects to: Hegemony explains class rule as cultural and political sway, not just economic interest; Hegemony is achieved by more than mere class dominance; Hegemony explains class domination without reducing it to narrow class-interest exposure. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 527 (+3 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 473

Broader Connections

• Hegemony explains class rule as cultural and political sway, not just economic interest #expands (0.85)
• Hegemony is achieved by more than mere class dominance #expands (0.80)
• Hegemony explains class domination without reducing it to narrow class-interest exposure. #expands (0.80) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 527
• Dominant classes survive crises by out-maneuvering subordinate groups #expands (0.72)