Blog #9 - Overton Window

The Overton Window is a communication theory initiated by Joseph Overton in 1990 but was formalized by a colleague of his in 2003 after Overton had died. This idea was an attempt by Overton to explain the role think tanks have in society. He claimed that at any given point in time, there were politically acceptable and unacceptable ideas in society. 

According to Joshua Trevino, the window can move in a series of steps, which are policy, popular, sensible, acceptable, radical, and unthinkable. Ideas seen as radical or unthinkable will face debates and can not be immediately accepted. However, it is suggested to jump to radical or unthinkable ideas to move the window. 

The top and bottom represent the amount of regulation the government can have on any idea. Joshua Trevino uses education to demonstrate the Overton Window, listing both extremes of the topic, which are "no government involvement in education" and "children are taken from their parents and raised as soldiers."

The position of the Overton Window can be changed by groups that can change public perception. These include think tanks, the media, entertainment, and a historical event or crisis. 

Because the Overton Window is not shifted by the government, social movements like women's suffrage, same-sex marriage, and animal rights. However, this leaves the Overton Window prone to tactics of information warfare like disinformation, propaganda, and manipulation. 

Even though the Overton Window has been named in 2003, it has influenced our society for hundreds of years. Let us use prohibition as an example:

It started as a movement aiming to avoid the destruction of families and marriages. It eventually grew to Massachusetts and Maine passing temperance laws, societies like the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League started to appear and persuaded people with speeches, advertisements, and public demonstrations, claiming temperance would get rid of poverty, immoral behavior, and physical violence. 

These demonstrations would go on to influence the public and the US government would pass the 18th amendment in 1919, banning the distribution of alcohol in the United States. Prohibition would eventually backfire due to the lack of enforcement, the rise of the mafia in America, and the increase in gambling and prostitution, but these show how a crisis can change public opinion. 

Another example of a crisis comes from mass shootings in the United States, which has been on the rise. These kinds of crises were uncommon a few decades ago, but we see them in the news almost every month. Accompanying these shootings are debates over strict gun laws in the US, which increases per mass shooting.

Politicians had to be mindful of the ideas they proposed and keep the public opinion in mind. If they do not, they risk having their ideas dismissed, losing political support, and losing the next election. I recall a series of questions being asked to Donald Trump and Joe Biden during the presidential debate, with one of them being about what both of them plan to do about the wildfires in California. 

The Overton Window has also moved when we look at issues like climate change and the looming student debt crisis. A few years ago, these issues did not cross our minds, I know it did not cross mine! With the Biden Administration, we have seen politicians staying in this window by introducing the New Green Deal and providing student loan relief for people attending college. He recently announced the SAVE Plan!

Some people may be trying to narrow this window and only allow narratives supporting the status quo to be released to the public. Any other sources going against the status quo would be written off as "fake news" and other accusations. Closing the Overton Window means the loss of a Marketplace of Ideas and no chance of new ideas or innovations coming to light. Even if we are prone to propaganda and misinformation, we need the Overton Window to have politicians work for society, not the other way around.