Search

This essay aims to reflect on the concept of crisis by focusing on the centrality this term has assumed in the context of contemporary public and political debate, and on the ambiguities that accompany its use in an attempt to normalise its ideological function and role. The ambiguity and conceptual density of the word “crisis” and the multiplicity of meanings that make it versatile and adaptable to the most diverse contexts contribute to fuelling a mechanism of naturalisation, even though its deployment is normally associated with conditions of extraordinariness, exceptionality, and unpredictability. In this perspective, the crisis, a constant and pervasive presence invading every area of social space and life, is unveiled as being the product of specific ideological and political practices, and social conflicts, representing multiple interests coagulated around the needs and objectives of global capitalism. The naturalisation and normalisation of the crisis do not seem to completely close off, however, the possibility of producing the conditions to imagine incisive forms of resistance and opposition. To achieve this aim, it seems imperative to recover the reasons and motivations for a cultural battle that looks at knowledge, in its manifold meanings, as a primary tool for emancipation and liberation.