Could you please Help?

Question

Would you please define and describe conventional wisdom, and show why social research is nesscessary. Also please show why conventional wisdom persist?

Answer 1

Conventional wisdom is a term coined by the economist John Kenneth Galbraith in The Affluent Society, used to describe certain ideas or explanations that are generally accepted as true by the public. It is frequently seen in print as the abbreviation CW.

Conventional wisdom may be either true or false. Many urban legends, for example, are accepted on the basis of being "conventional wisdom". Conventional wisdom is also often seen as an obstacle to introducing new theories, explanations, and so as an obstacle that must be overcome by such revisionism. This is to say, that despite new information to the contrary, Conventional Wisdom has a property analogous to inertia, a momentum, that opposes the introduction of contrary belief; sometimes to the point of absurd denial of the new information set by persons strongly holding an outdated (conventional wisdom) view. This inertia is due to conventional wisdom being made of ideas that are convenient, appealing and deeply assumed by the public, who hangs on to them even as they grow outdated. The unavoidable outcome is these ideas will eventually not match reality at all, so conventional wisdom will be violently shaken until it doesn't conflict reality so blatantly.

Or, to put it simply:

The enemy of the conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of events. John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society (1958).

The idea of Conventional Wisdom is also used in a political sense, often related closely with the phenomenon of Talking Points. It is used pejoratively to refer to the idea that statements which are repeated over and over become conventional wisdom regardless of whether or not they are true.

In a more general sense, it is used to refer to the accepted truth about something which nearly no-one would argue about, and so is used as a gauge (or well-spring) of normative behavior or belief, even within a professional context. One such example was conventional wisdom in 1960, even among most doctors, dictated that smoking was not particularly harmful to one's health. Another: It might be used in this manner discussing a technical matter such as the conventional wisdom was that a man would suffer fatal injuries if he experienced more than eighteen G-Forces in an aerospace vehicle. (John Stapp, the world's fastest man, shattered that myth repeatedly withstanding far more in his research—peaking above 46 Gs).

Lastly, it should be noted that when conventional wisdoms are overthrown, they are replaced by a new CW, and even the best of mankind is prone to hang onto the old CW at one time or another: Einstein could not let go of the older deterministic CW and accept the new CW of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and the necessity of using probability mathematics in nuclear physics.

Answer 2

Conventional wisdom is the commonly held explanation for a giving phenomenon. Conventional wisdom may or may not be correct because explanation of things do change. Consider gravity: under Newton’s expiation it is a force that is innate to mass, the greater the mass the greater the force, and the closer the mass the grater its attraction according to the inverse square ratio. However, under Einstein’s explanation gravity is not a force at all, just a disruption in space that is brought about by mass being in space.

People, like mass in Newton’s universe, have inertia in their worldview, for to change one aspect of it requires that the whole view be reworked to accommodate the revision. A lot of times people have a lot invested in the old understanding, they be making a medicine that is not necessary under the new view and are reluctant to give up the profit the current understanding provided. Also whole systems are set to teach certain things and when those thing are understood to no longer true those who made a reputation in the field expounding upon the old understanding resist admitting that were wrong.

Social research is necessary for the same reason any other type of research is necessary, because someone want to know. If nobody wanted to know then no research would be done, who is researching the social life of E. coli? Well if someone want to find about that, and has the time and money then it will be researched. The reason social research is deemed necessary by those who fund it vary from just the desire to understand human behavior to wishing to learn how better to control human behavior.

Answer 3

Ok, look at the link for the definintion of conventional wisdom. Basically it is the commonly accepted fact, like gravity will make you fall to the ground. Social research is necessary due to the fact we are a changing society, taboos from the 1920's are no longer taboo. Just like tatoos are becoming no big deal, 20 years ago they were considered trashy or for bikers. Let me know if we get an "A".

Answer 4

Doesn't this have to be in by tomorrow? Watch Big Brother.

Answer 5

Gosh...what color binder would you like us to put your term paper in for you?

Answer 6

what?????