The appearance of stagflation undermined the foundations of conventional economic theory. Instead inflation now seemed to have its own dynamics independent of employment and wage levels. In 1974 the noted oil economist M. A. Adelman came up with an explanation for the stagflation following the October 1973 oil crisis. He had predicted lower oil prices for the 1970 but instead they shot up. I think that Adelman's remark indicates a dawning recognition on his part that politics moves economics and not the other way around.
Oil is the main commodity of the modern world.
It fuels transportation, provides a lot of the world's electrical power and is what plastics are made of. Even now most of the world's oil is under Anglo-American control. That meant the price consumers pay at the pump is not determined by markets but by political power. After oil prices spiked up again in the early 1980's the inflation rate too shot up, as it had in 1974. But this time Fed chairman Volcker used his interest rate weapons to wage a fierce battle to bring down inflation.