The 1968 student revolt persisted because its original structural grievances remained unresolved.

Evidence

The radicalization of the student protest movement and its development into the driving force of the extra-parliamentary opposition continued, since the reasons it had arisen also continued to exist: the absence of democratic reform in the universities; the continuing erosion of the parliamentary system under the Grand Coalition, which among other things had decided to introduce legislation for a state of emergency and was toying with the idea of a simple majority electoral system, or a requirement that a party should win at least 10 per cent of the total vote before being allotted any seats; the Federal Republic’s moral and financial support for the war in Vietnam; the manipulation of public opinion blatantly being carried out by the Springer corporation and in the press situation in Berlin; the general orientation towards the model of a `fully formed society’. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2639

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Rittel/Webber ‘wicked problems’ — social grievances that accumulate without resolution as a driver of sustained radicalization; also to Habermas on legitimation crisis. — connects to: Six persistent structural grievances sustained the student movement’s radicalization

Broader Connections

• Six persistent structural grievances sustained the student movement’s radicalization #corroborates (0.90)