Crude economism explains every political movement by a guaranteed ruling-class profit
Evidence
Confronted with these events, economism asks the question: “who profits directly from the initiative under consideration?”, and replies with a line of reasoning which is as simplistic as it is fallacious: the ones who profit directly are a certain fraction of the ruling class. Furthermore, so that no mistake shall be made, the choice falls on that fraction which manifestly has a progressive function, controlling the totality of economic forces. One can be certain of not going wrong, since necessarily, if the movement under consideration comes to power, sooner or later the progressive fraction of the ruling group will end up by controlling the new government, and by making it its instrument for turning the State apparatus to its own benefit. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 715
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- XREF: The self-refuting infallibility of economist explanation parallels later critical-theory warnings about conspiratorial modes of explanation.