Crises trigger change only through ideas already available in the culture

Evidence

Milton Friedman once argued “only a crisis—actual or perceived—produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around.” The next three chapters explain why the idea of austerity has been “lying around” in various forms for the past four centuries. Its repetition, refinement, and continual redeployment do not improve it over time. But that doesn’t stop liberals from finding it endlessly attractive and polishing it anew every time there is a crisis. — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 276

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the Friedman ‘crisis + lying-around ideas’ framework that anchors the next three chapters’ entire historiographic approach.
• XREF: Connects to Mattei’s critique and the broader crisis-opportunism literature on austerity politics. — connects to: Cultural change can follow institutional change rather than precede it — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 2237; People change only by producing and acting on their own ideas. — Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 313; An opaque financial crisis elevated prescient explainers into cultural authorities. — W. David Marx, Blank Space: A Cultural History of the…, 212 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• People change only by producing and acting on their own ideas. #complicates (0.80) — Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 313
• Cultural change works by inflecting existing attitudes, not by assaulting them #expands (0.78) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 149
• Cultural change can follow institutional change rather than precede it #complicates (0.75) — , The Rod and the Child, 2237
• Culture operates as a constitutive force in politics and social change #complicates (0.75) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 159
• An opaque financial crisis elevated prescient explainers into cultural authorities. #exemplifies (0.70) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 212