Revolutionary conjunctures arise from accumulated overdetermined contradictions, not the economy alone

Evidence

It is not, in Althusser’s view, to be understood in terms of what produces a particular conjuncture, especially a revolutionary conjuncture. Such moments of fundamental rupture are no more exclusively produced by the single determinacy of “the economic” than any other moment. Such moments are constituted, rather, by the accumulation of the different contradictions, peculiar to each of the levels or practices, in one space or moment: hence, such conjunctures are, like Freud’s symptoms (from whom, indeed, the metaphor is adopted), not determined, but “over -determined.” Determinacy, then, for Althusser, is thought principally in terms of the economic level (determining) having, as one of its effects, the deciding which of the levels of the social formation—economic, political, or ideological—will be “dominant.” — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 534

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies Althusser’s concept of ‘overdetermination’ as contradiction accumulation distinct from economic determinism.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in how Hall’s essays relate to economic thought — the economy determines which level dominates, not its content. — connects to: Historical novelty is generated from the contradictions of a specific situation, not from freedom. — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 57; Challenging empire is possible because it contains internal contradictions.; Capitalism’s permanent contradiction enables endless mutation instead of revolution — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New…, 21 (+2 more)