Conventional point of view has been holding people back for tens of centuries. And nowadays in the modern society such a phenomenon as a «conventional wisdom» has become widespread. This concept affects many areas of our life. But there is an opinion that conventional point of view is often wrong. Let’s look at some of the issues involved with this statement.
To begin with, this term means any idea, belief or judgment which is accepted by most people as a truth. I personally think that «conventional wisdom» is not always unfair and false but it is often used as an incorrect and undisputed explanation of many social events and acts. I will give several examples to prove my point.
Let us consider the case described in the book «Freakonomics» written by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. In Chapter 4, called "Where Have All the Criminals Gone?", authors described the criminal situation that had developed in 1990’s in USA. The level of crimes, especially murders, was extremely high. All …show more content…
The other scientists, politicians and other similar predictors gave roughly the same horrible prognosis. However, despite their confidence the results were too unpredictable: the amount of murders decreased by 50 per cent in 5 years! Then all experts started to find the causes of this decline in crime. Among the reasons were the rapid economic development of the 1990s, new police strategies, and control over the sale of weapons. All these theories were not only logical, but also encouraging, because they linked the decline of crime with specific initiatives. It is no wonder that these theories easily seized the minds of journalists, and then the public consciousness too. Very soon they turned into generally accepted points of view, which nobody doubted. But in fact, they did not correspond to the true state of
To begin with, this term means any idea, belief or judgment which is accepted by most people as a truth. I personally think that «conventional wisdom» is not always unfair and false but it is often used as an incorrect and undisputed explanation of many social events and acts. I will give several examples to prove my point.
Let us consider the case described in the book «Freakonomics» written by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. In Chapter 4, called "Where Have All the Criminals Gone?", authors described the criminal situation that had developed in 1990’s in USA. The level of crimes, especially murders, was extremely high. All …show more content…
The other scientists, politicians and other similar predictors gave roughly the same horrible prognosis. However, despite their confidence the results were too unpredictable: the amount of murders decreased by 50 per cent in 5 years! Then all experts started to find the causes of this decline in crime. Among the reasons were the rapid economic development of the 1990s, new police strategies, and control over the sale of weapons. All these theories were not only logical, but also encouraging, because they linked the decline of crime with specific initiatives. It is no wonder that these theories easily seized the minds of journalists, and then the public consciousness too. Very soon they turned into generally accepted points of view, which nobody doubted. But in fact, they did not correspond to the true state of