Image by Jordii Sastre
Conventional wisdom is a funny ol’ thing: it sometimes shifts so fast that we don’t even notice. Just two years ago, thought leaders advocating for sanctioned encampments in SJ were derided by the local Labor/left as slumlords and racists, guilty of promoting internment camps. Now, even some of the (previously) most hostile critics of funding this type of interim housing suddenly are acknowledging its importance. The educational website conceptually.org explains how the Overton Window—or conventional wisdom—shifts in modern society.
How do you shift Overton window—commonly known as Conventional Wisdom?
The most common misconception is that lawmakers themselves are in the business of shifting the Overton window. That is absolutely false. Lawmakers are actually in the business of detecting where the window is, and then moving to be in accordance with it.
– Joseph Lehman
If politicians must locate the window, think tanks and social movements must shift the Overton window {or Conventional Wisdom} to succeed in their advocacy. They must convince voters that policies outside the window should be in it.
Do you break or budge the window?
Namesake Joseph P. Overton, who was a senior vice president at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a free-market libertarian think tank, contended that pushing for extreme positions is more effective at changing public opinion. However, there are multiple approaches to shifting the status quo. For example, similar to the foot-in-the-door technique used in sales, one could advocate for small but gradually larger shifts to a policy.
Pulling the rope sideways
Another strategy is to try to avoid playing a game of political tug-of-war altogether. As the economist Robin Hanson puts, it: pull the rope sideways. Instead of joining a side and pulling on the rope (of the Overton window), pull it sideways in a direction no one will resist.
For example, instead of trying to push for increases or decreases in the overall tax rate (an area that gets a lot of resistance from both sides), a strategy of pulling the rope sideways would involve aiming to increase the effectiveness with which it is spent. The social good from spending might be a consideration that is both more neglected, but also more tractable and easier to see changes in because both parties would prefer to see it spent more effectively. Pursuing neglected and tractable policy changes could be a route to finding more socially valuable ideas.
How to most effectively produce social change remains an open question requiring empirical evidence, and the answer might depend on the specific case being examined, so let’s explore through some contemporary examples.
Overton window examples
Examples of the Overton window shifting historically include women’s suffrage, abolishing of slavery, and the growing acceptance of IVF, to more contemporary examples like Bernie Sanders’s advocacy for universal health care, gay marriage, and concern for animal welfare.
Growing support for same-sex marriage
Support in the United States for same sex marriage has catapulted into the Overton window of not just political possibility, but legal feasibility, being now legal in all 50 states.
Democrats’ support of same-sex marriage has grown 50 percentage points from 33% to 83% since 1996 — the most among political party groups.
Read the whole thing here.
Related:
- SJ Homelessness committee ignores creative new ideas for addressing citizen concerns about encampments
- LA, like SF, gets increasingly serious about illegally-parked RV’s amid safety concerns
- Living close to encampments: a candid perspective
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