Dilbert, Galbraith & conventional wisdom
January 9th, 2009 by Jiri
I received and started reading The Affluent Society this week and although I still reserve my opinion on the book, the first chapter is so great I thought it is worth writing up. As someone who has been always quite strong on following his own way, I can relate too well to its subject of conventional wisdom. Even if its language is a bit dated, it is pretty much on for modern social and business life of 2009 . If Galbraith was a cartoon strip writer rather than an economist, we might have had Dilbert 30 years earlier! Anyway, below are some most pointed quotes from the book:
What people proclaim and what they really mean
At the same time … originality remains highly acceptable in the abstract. Here again the conventional wisdom makes vigorous advocacy of originality a substitute for originality itself.
Why people don’t get tired of conventional wisdom
There are many reasons why people like to hear articulated that which they approve. It serves their ego: the individual has the satisfaction of knowing that other and more famous people share his conclusions. To hear what he believes is also a source of reassurance… Further to hear what one approves serves the evangelizing instinct.
In some measure, the articulation of the conventional wisdom is a religious rite. It is an act of affirmation like reading aloud from the Scriptures or going to church.
Becoming a pointy hairy boss
The high public official is expected, and indeed is to some extent required to expound the conventional wisdom…Expounding of the conventional wisdom is the prerogative of business success.
How conventional wisdom dies
The enemy of the conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of events. The fatal blow to the conventional wisdom comes when the conventional ideas fail signally to deal with some contingency to which obsolescence has made them palpably inapplicable… At this stage, the irrelevance will often be dramatized by some individual. To him will accrue the credit for overthrowing the conventional wisdom and for installing the new ideas. In fact, he will have only crystalized in words what the events have made clear.
Why is conventional wisdom to the society
Few men are ever unuseful and the man of conventional wisdom is not. Every society must be protected from a too facile flow of ideas. In the communist countries, stability of ideas and social purpose is achieved by formal adherence to officially proclaimed doctrine. In our society, a similar stability is enforced far more informally by the conventional wisdom.
Benefits of peddling conventional wisdom
Nor is it supposed that the man of conventional wisdom is an object of pity. Apart from his socially useful role, he has come to good terms with life. He can think of himself with justice as socialy elect, for society in fact accords him the applause which his ideas are so arranged to evoke. Secure in this applause, he is well armed against the annoyance of dissent. His bargain is to exchange a strong and even lofty position in the present for a weak one in the future.