Crises of ruling legitimacy produce misread progress claims and mass empowerment

Evidence

When things are going badly in the social structure of a nation because of the decadence of the fundamental capacities of its men”, Ludovici claims, “two distinct tendencies seem always to assert themselves: on the one hand to interpret as symptoms of progress changes which are purely and simply signs of decadence and ruin of old and healthy (!) institutions; and the second, which is due to a justified loss of confidence in the governing class, is to give to everyone, whether or not they have the qualities required, the certainty of being chosen to make an effort in the direction of putting things right”. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1104

Categorization

• XREF: This two-tendency diagnosis of decadence — misreading decline as progress, plus loss of confidence in the governing class — parallels later Islamophobia analyses of how moral panics mobilize against perceived cultural decline. — connects to: Capitalism sustains legitimacy through broken promises, not fulfilled ones — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 118