My time with Marx

I’ve never understood Marxism. Even after this class and several others I still feel as though I don’t have any really true grasp of the finer points of his theory of politics or economics or sociology. Yet I think I’ve begun to develop a better respect for him and the ideas he helped develop.
The concept of hegemony more than anything confirms to many things I’ve thought about concerning society and control. Those in power don’t assert and maintain their power through physical force but rather by making everyone underneath them feel as though they have a right to be there and that everything that is set up is for the good of everyone. In Marxist criticism I see many of the same thought patterns that lead me to much of my own conclusions. Little things, certain images or words chosen over others create things in the world that people believe to be true and ultimately promote the ideology of the powerful. Insidious as this sounds these small things are what get into people’s heads and indoctrinate them into the system. However my view of Marxist criticism has not changed much. I’ve always viewed it as if those Marxist thinkers were imbuing works that they’ve found with their own hegemony that paints the ruling class as constantly inserting beliefs in even the most innocuous of works such as what we saw with the Rudolph piece.