Societies oscillate between containment and crisis rather than remaining closed monoliths.

Evidence

Consequently, rather than conceptualizing contemporary societies as closed monoliths of domination, they should be analyzed as systems of contradictions, tensions, and conflicts which oscillate from stasis to change, from oppression and domination to struggle and resistance, and from stability and containment to conflict and crisis. — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 52

Categorization

• XREF: The oscillation model maps onto the attention economy’s swings between absorption and resistance; also echoes DeLillo’s interest in the tremor/counter-tremor of systems. — connects to: Shared catastrophe briefly unites people across difference before giving way to division and reprisal; International instability can unify factions within a nation while internal instability divides them; Crises are formal phases that temporarily suspend normal premises of conduct

Broader Connections

• Crises are formal phases that temporarily suspend normal premises of conduct #epitomizes (0.85)
• Shared catastrophe briefly unites people across difference before giving way to division and reprisal #exemplifies (0.75)
• International instability can unify factions within a nation while internal instability divides them #exemplifies (0.72)