Overton window
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The Overton window is a concept in political theory, named after its originator, Joe Overton, former vice president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. It describes a "window" in the range of public reactions to ideas in public discourse, in a spectrum of all possible options on an issue.
[edit] Details
Overton described a method for moving that window, thereby including previously excluded ideas, while excluding previously acceptable ideas. The technique relies on people promoting ideas even less acceptable than the previous "outer fringe" ideas. That makes those old fringe ideas look less extreme, and thereby acceptable. The idea is that priming the public with fringe ideas intended to be and remain unacceptable, will make the real target ideas seem more acceptable by comparison.
The degrees of acceptance of public ideas can be described roughly as:
- Unthinkable
- Radical
- Acceptable
- Sensible
- Popular
- Policy
The Overton Window is a means of visualizing which ideas define that range of acceptance by where they fall in it, and adding new ideas that can push the old ideas towards acceptance merely by making the limits more extreme.
[edit] Further reading
- Tullock, Gordon (1967). Politics of Persuasion.
- Slippery slope
[edit] External links
- An Introduction to the Overton Window of Political Possibilities
- 2006 Daily Kos article on the Overton window
- 2009 Daily Kos article on the Overton window
- W3C and the Overton window - includes a clear explanation
- The Overton Window, Illustrated.
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