Toward a Conjunctural Analysis of New York City's Housing Movement

Abstract

The work of Antonio Gramsci points the way to the analysis of political conjunctures in ways that are complementary to, but go beyond, those of historical institutionalists. With a focus on the layering of longer- and shorter-term movement and policy dynamics, as well as on the fundamental contradictions that fuel social struggles, the approach is applied here to an analysis of recent housing struggles in New York City. Tracing the historical and organizational roots of contemporary fights over social housing, rent regulation, and evictions, the article argues that broader political backlash has hampered the movement, while the institutional innovations of the movement—and over 80 years of policy—remain resources for a broader and more radical future.