A prolonged crisis signals irremediable structural contradictions being patched over
Evidence
Organic phenomena on the other hand give rise to socio-historical criticism, whose subject is wider social groupings—beyond the public figures and beyond the top leaders. When an historical period comes to be studied, the great importance of this distinction becomes clear. A crisis occurs, sometimes lasting for decades. This exceptional duration means that incurable structural contradictions have revealed themselves (reached maturity), and that, despite this, the political forces which are struggling to conserve and defend the existing structure itself are making every effort to cure them, within certain limits, and to overcome them. These incessant and persistent efforts (since no social formation will ever admit that it has been superseded) form the terrain of the “conjunctural”, and it is upon this terrain that the forces of opposition organise. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 748
Categorization
Category: Definitional Content
- DEFINE: Defines organic phenomena and the meaning of a decades-long crisis as matured structural contradictions.