L'inévitabilité d'une transformation sociale en profondeur

Terry Eagleton souligne le fait que tout passe, tout change. Il note que le capitalisme, que tant de gens aujourd'hui croient permanent, est "one of the most sickeningly fragile systems which history has ever witnessed." Il ajoute : "The idea that there is anything graven in stone about this roller coaster of a system is laughable enough; but so is the assumption that its victims are now so spiritually lobotomized, so passive and docile, that they would be unlikely to twitch an eyebrow were the Second Coming to take place in their front gardens. This may be the view of some jaded cultural theorists, but it is certainly not the view of Whitehall or the White House. If there is one moral certainty in all this, it is surely that people will rise up against the system the moment it is rational for them to do so. That is to say, the moment when it becomes tolerably clear that there is nothing any longer in the system for them; that the perils and discomforts of disaffection outweigh the meagre gratification of conformism; that sheer apathy is no longer materially possible; that even an obscure, untested political alternative would be better than what they are landed with; and that anger at the unjust way in which they are being treated is more powerful than fatalism and fear. Such moments don't of course come often, since it is rational not to rebel against a social system, whatever its grave deficiencies, as long as it is still capable of delivering you just enough gratification to outweigh the risk and laboriousness of seeking an alternative. Once it is not capable of this, however, men and women will take to the streets as surely as night follows day." ("Utopia and its Opposites," The Socialist Register, 2000)