Spiritual and countercultural protest gets absorbed harmlessly by the system

Evidence

If you study all Italian history since 1815, you will see that a small ruling group has succeeded in methodically absorbing into its own ambit the entire political personnel thrown up by the various, originally subversive, mass movements. From 1860 to 1876 the Mazzinian and Garibaldine Action Party was absorbed by the Monarchy, leaving only an insignificant residue which lived on as the Republican Party, but whose significance was more folk-loristic than historico-political. The phenomenon was called ‘transformism’, but it was not an isolated phenomenon; it was an organic process which, in the formation of the ruling class, replaced what in France had happened in the Revolution and under Napoleon, and in England under Cromwell. Indeed, even after 1876 the process continued, molecularly. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2079 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The dissenting author does not just fulfill the function of “loyal opposition,” which no doubt she does; she also engages in changing the system from within, rendering it stronger and more robust. John Maynard Keynes is a typical example in point; his dissenting economic theories managed to displace earlier ones and to acquire wide influence and application, but there is nothing in Keynes’s dissenting works that interrogates or attempts to challenge the theoretical foundations of capitalism, its validity, or the larger principles of its practice in the world. His theories were intended, and in fact were used, to improve the system, the perception—at least—being that the system would have suffered without his contributions. At least until Milton Freedman appeared on the scene as a strong challenger, Keynes’s “authorial” output was thought to strengthen capitalism and enhance its efficiency. It is noteworthy that because the correction, whatever kind, happens inside the larger boundaries of the system, or what the system can tolerate, the dissenting author in turn is not only tolerated but usually welcomed and clothed with prestige, it being the case that his or her dissent, due to the perception of originality and innovation, is regarded as either improving on the system or cautioning against faults that may cause it to decline or suffer in one way or another. — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 340 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Dissent is neutralized by demands for a universal alternative system — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 227; The system neutralizes opposition by absorbing critique into indifference — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 539; Romanticizing the simple folk is really romanticizing the system that oppresses them (+11 more)

Related

• Ruling classes absorb and neutralize subversive movements through transformism (similarity 0.85)
• The system neutralizes opposition by absorbing critique into indifference (similarity 0.80)
• A system tolerates and rewards dissent that stays within its boundaries (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Ruling classes absorb and neutralize subversive movements through transformism #corroborates (0.88) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2079
• Reform-minded dissent within a system strengthens rather than threatens it #corroborates (0.85)
• A system tolerates and rewards dissent that stays within its boundaries #corroborates (0.82) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 340
• Traditional religions counteracted paranoia through collective structure #corroborates (0.72)