Economic crises alone cannot topple advanced capitalist states because civil society resists
Evidence
The superstructures of civil society are like the trench-systems of modern warfare. In war it would sometimes happen that a fierce artillery attack seemed to have destroyed the enemy’s entire defensive system, whereas in fact it had only destroyed the outer perimeter; and at the moment of their advance and attack the assailants would find themselves confronted by a line of defence which was still effective. The same thing happens in politics, during the great economic crises. A crisis cannot give the attacking forces the ability to organise with lightning speed in time and in space; still less can it endow them with fighting spirit. Similarly, the defenders are not demoralised, nor do they abandon their positions, even among the ruins, nor do they lose faith in their own strength or their own future. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 892
Categorization
Category: Definitional Content
- DEFINE: Introduces the defining image of civil society as trench-works and the war of position concept — core repertoire.
- XREF: Feeds directly forward into how Islamophobia scholarship treats ‘hegemony’ and durable common-sense structures that an economic shock alone won’t dissolve.
- ADDENDUM: Parallels the ‘Grafting & Growth’ infrastructure thinking — here the durable defensive system is social superstructure, not botanical infrastructure.
Related
- Economic crises cannot by themselves overthrow advanced capitalist states. (similarity 0.95)
- Political contestation under capitalism cannot challenge the economic system itself (similarity 0.87)
- Civil society in advanced states resists direct economic shocks. (similarity 0.85)