A term that is related to the concept of
hegemony; "reverse hegemony" was originally coined by syndicated columnist
Ann Coulter in December 2001, as she satirically urged the Dubya Administration to invade
France after they finish up with
Al Qaeda:
The Great Satan is wearying of this reverse hegemony, in which little pip-squeak nations try to impose their pip-squeak values on us. Aren’t we the ones who should be arrogantly oppressing countries that unaccountably do not have the death penalty?
However, I'd say that Coulter's term has wider applications than the contentious relationship between America and France.
Splinter groups of all kinds, from the Masons to the Underground Railroad to the members of the Michigan Militia, will defend their non-mainstream beliefs by creating some sort of "reverse hegemony"--a belief system that explains why the group is opposed to the mainstream and defends the group's so-called "deviant" views as naturally right and just.
(Hmmm, that last sentence reminds me of the American Declaration of Independence. Life is strange, isn't it?)
For a more recent example, I'd say that "vanilla sex," a term from the wonderful world of BDSM (bondage, dominance/submission, and sado-masochism), is an excellent example of reverse hegemony in action.
Despite some efforts from the BDSM folks, the American mainstream still won't believe that consenting adults might actually want to mutually inflict their kinks on each other. As a result, BDSM-ers tend to portray themselves as hip sexual gourmets, full of spice and style, in a world full of prudish kids who only like the sexual equivalent of oatmeal (no sugar, even).
Though the "reverse hegemony" effect is as old or older than Moses, scores of knee-jerk postmodernists have earned PhDs by documenting and celebrating so-called "cultural resistance." Sadly, these so-called scholars are lost and starry-eyed in the Age of Deconstruction--they seem to think that transgressive behavior is naturally subversive and marvelous simply because Jerry Falwell might not approve.
So what do I think? I'm very proud of Martin Luther King and the rest of the '60s civil rights movement, who enlisted the principles of reverse hegemony as they opposed Jim Crow. On the other hand, I despise Charles Manson, who was slick enough to use some of those principles for a rather different purpose.