Gramsci distinguished long-lasting organic crises from occasional movements

Evidence

The next move in the analysis is to distinguish “organic” historical movements, which are destined to penetrate deep into society and be relatively long-lasting, from more “occasional, immediate, almost accidental movements.” In this respect, Gramsci reminds us that a “crisis,” if it is organic, can last for decades. It is not a static phenomenon but, rather, one marked by constant movement, polemics, contestations, etc., which represent the attempt by different sides to overcome or resolve the crisis and to do so in terms which favor their long-term hegemony. The theoretical danger, Gramsci argues, lies in “presenting causes as immediately operative which in fact only operate indirectly, or in asserting that the immediate causes are the only effective ones.” The first leads to an excess of economism, the second to an excess of ideologism. (Gramsci was preoccupied, especially in moments of defeat, by the fatal oscillation between these two extremes, which in reality mirror one another in an inverted form.) Far from there being any “law-like” guarantee that some law of necessity will inevitably convert economic causes into immediate political effects, Gramsci insisted that the analysis only succeeds and is “true” if those underlying causes become a new reality. The substitution of the conditional tense for positivistic certainty is critical. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 101

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the organic/occasional distinction and the twin errors of economism and ideologism — core diagnostic vocabulary for critical theory.
• XREF: The organic crisis concept carries directly into later analyses of ideological shifts in Islamophobia discourse.