This article explores how crises become opportunities. Through a study of a progressive teachers’ union caucus in New York City during the emergence of covid-19, this piece examines how organizations convert crises into opportunities for political growth. Drawing on sociological theories of political articulation and crisis, this article explores the role of union caucuses to foment political change. We argue that crises become politically significant according to how organizations use events to catalyze competing political narratives to drive new political formations. We examine how union caucuses engage in this work. Using ethnographic methods of participant observation and interviews, our study finds that caucuses with established visions, internal organizational structure, and moral legitimacy are better able to take advantage of crises. These conditions allow caucuses to exercise power, not just petition for it. We conclude that the existence of organizational infrastructure and ideological coherence enables a group to convert crises into opportunities.

本文探讨了危机如何变成机遇。通过对covid出现期间纽约市进步教师工会核心小组的研究-19，这篇文章探讨了组织如何将危机转化为政治增长的机会。借鉴政治表达和危机的社会学理论，本文探讨了工会核心小组在推动政治变革中的作用。我们认为，根据组织如何利用事件来催化竞争性政治叙事以推动新的政治形态，危机变得具有政治意义。我们研究工会核心成员如何参与这项工作。我们的研究使用参与观察和访谈的民族志方法，发现具有既定愿景、内部组织结构和道德合法性的核心小组能够更好地利用危机。这些条件允许核心小组行使权力，而不仅仅是请愿。