Digital Hegemony: Social Media, Power Relations, and the Architecture of Division in the Attention Economy

Abstract

This paper advances the concept of digital hegemony to theorise social media as a structured system of power that operates through algorithmic governance, data commodification, and engineered attention. Moving beyond celebratory narratives of connectivity and democratisation, the current study postulates that contemporary social media platforms function as hegemonic apparatuses that normalise specific epistemologies, privilege dominant economic interests, and reproduce asymmetrical power relations within digitally mediated societies. Drawing on Gramscian theory of hegemony, Foucauldian analytics of power, and critical political economy of communication, this paper conceptualises the “architecture of division” as a deliberate structural outcome of engagement-maximising algorithms that amplify affective polarisation, identity segmentation, and epistemic fragmentation. The analysis further introduces the notion of foci deception within the attention economy, describing the strategic engineering of public salience through algorithmic curation, trend manipulation, and targeted amplification. By commodifying user data and behavioural surplus, platforms transform attention into capital, incentivising divisive and emotionally arousing content that sustains user engagement while deepening social fragmentation. This structural configuration redistributes communicative power from publics to platforms, reconstituting governance through opaque algorithmic systems that operate beyond traditional democratic oversight. The current paper concludes that digital hegemony represents a new modality of control, one that is subtle, participatory, and self-reinforcing. Rather than coercing compliance, it shapes perception, channels discourse and normalises division through infrastructural design. Recognising these dynamics is essential for advancing regulatory reform, enhancing digital literacy, and safeguarding democratic deliberation in the platform era.