The assumption of inertia, that social and cultural continuity do not require explanation, obliterates the fact that both have to be recreated anew in each generation, often with great pain and suffering.  To maintain and transmit a value system, human beings are punched, bullied, send to gaol, thrown into concentration camps, cajoled, bribed, made into heroes, encouraged to read newspapers, stood up against a wall and shot, and sometimes even taught sociology.  To speak of cultural inertia is to overlook the concrete interests and privileges that are served by indoctrination, education, and the entire complicated process of transmitting culture from one generation to the next.

– Barrington Moore, Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (1967)