Economism’s profit-hunting method is a fallacious historiographical shortcut

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

• XREF: The exposure-of-swindles critique of economism parallels how media reification and commodity-fetish readings treat ideology; connects to a methodological warning useful when critiquing reductionist news-coverage analyses. — connects to: Historical economism reduces history to individual greed and technical change — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 710; Historical narrative logic structures timescapes that pure economic analysis misses — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 597; Economism reduces history to individual self-interest, technical change, or single factors of production (+2 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Historical economism reduces history to individual greed and technical change — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 710; Historical narrative logic structures timescapes that pure economic analysis misses — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 597; Economism reduces history to individual self-interest, technical change, or single factors of production (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Economism reduces history to individual self-interest, technical change, or single factors of production #expands (0.93)