- published: 27 Oct 2009
- views: 119323
Conventional wisdom (CW) is a term used to describe ideas or explanations that are generally accepted as true by the public or by experts in a field. Such ideas or explanations, though widely held, are unexamined. Unqualified societal discourse preserves the status quo.
The term is often credited to the economist John Kenneth Galbraith, who used it in his 1958 book The Affluent Society:
It will be convenient to have a name for the ideas which are esteemed at any time for their acceptability, and it should be a term that emphasizes this predictability. I shall refer to these ideas henceforth as the conventional wisdom.
The term in actuality is much older and dates at least to 1838.
Conventional wisdom was used in a number of other works prior to Galbraith, occasionally in a positive or neutral sense, but more often pejoratively. However, previous authors used it as a synonym for 'commonplace knowledge'. Galbraith specifically prepended 'The' to the phrase to emphasize its uniqueness, and sharpened its meaning to narrow it to those commonplace beliefs that are also acceptable and comfortable to society, thus enhancing their ability to resist facts that might diminish them. He repeatedly referred to it throughout the text of The Affluent Society, invoking it to explain the high degree of resistance in academic economics to new ideas. For these reasons, he is usually credited with the invention & popularization of the phrase in modern usage.
sometimes life surprises
'cause you never expected to be that
Dangerous disguises
that you never expect to see
Some things never change
nothing's gonna change that
Some things you can't explain
Like why were all embracing conventional wisdom in a world that's just so unconventional
Made you turn around
But you never expected to see that
Thats what makes that sound
That you never expect to hear
Some things never change
Something's gotta change that
Some things you can't explain
Like why were all embracing conventional wisdom in a world that's just so unconventional
They dont know they're wrong
But you know that they never can see that
Thats what makes them strong