Overton's Window: A Theory of Political Ideology

The Overton window is a theory which helps to explain how certain ideas are legitimized before public opinion, and how, based on this, a group of citizens conforms to those ideas. It is a metaphor developed by Joseph Overton, who directed one of the most important public policy centers in the United States.

In this article we explain what the Overton Window consists of and why it has been a very important idea to understand how is it that a group of people can end up adopting an idea.

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Overton's window: what is it?

The Overton window is named after the person who developed the idea: Joseph Overton (1960-2003). He was vice president of the largest policy research institute in the United States, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, located in Michigan.

Overton used the window metaphor to convey the idea of a narrow and well-defined space, through which we can look at some things and not others. Like any window, it is a structure that is intentionally and strategically built by someone.

For example, it is not the same to put a window with a view of the sea, than to put it with a view of the interior patio. Whoever builds it and places it in a place does so with a certain intention.

In the case of public policies, and the opinions around them, the people who build the window are the groups that have some level of authority and political control. That is to say, it is these groups who build and move the windows through which we observe everything that happens around us.

It is about exposing an idea that, despite initially seeming unacceptable, can be defended and framed so that little by little it becomes a conceivable idea. Thus, the opinion of those affected or interested in said idea, can be directed within the margins of the window and the interests of certain political groups.

a political theory

What Overton proposed through this metaphor is that the policies that are considered viable, are considered so mainly according to the convenience of the politicians, beyond their individual interests.

These policies can be presented in a more or less narrow range, depending on how much the opinion of society varies. So, they move in a vertical range according to whether their acceptability can be increased or decreased. As a general rule, the shape of the window means that those who believe in a certain ideological trend only pay attention to certain ideas, and ignore or minimize the importance of the opposing ones.

Overton's window can be moved according to current interest and the possibility of being accepted by a majority. Its limits can be made wider or narrower, depending on the idea that wants to be justified before public opinion. That is why it is also known as the “window of opportunity” and “window of acceptability”.

• Related article: "Cognitive dissonance: the theory that explains self-deception"

Public opinion and political ideas

Likewise, this political theory that explains that, beyond the individual references we have about politicians, we tend to accept the political viability of their ideas because they are presented to us with a very low range of possibilities. narrow.

Said range makes a public policy (eg. a measure adopted to manage migration from Mexico to the United States), may change from being considered as “unthinkable” to “acceptable”, then “sensible”, “popular”, and finally, as a policy necessary.

In turn, this range of possibilities it is adapted according to the characteristics of the citizens and the current state of public opinion, so that the person who proposes them is perceived as a competent politician, or at least not too radical.

Strategically, some ideas can be presented as radical, so that what is "out of the window" is considered moderate and acceptable. Thus, the window can modify its limits and the place towards which we turn, and even the very perception of what we observe.

It can be applied to understand how societies adopt and abandon certain ideas over time. time, through having been defended with logical, moral and emotional criteria by the political group interested. Through this metaphor different social events could be analyzed and how they have been able to legitimize ideals and practices of all kinds, many of them dangerous.

Popularity and related works

Although Overton's Window is a very popular theory by now, it is also a fairly recent idea. It became a theory in itself after Joseph Overton passed away. as a result of injuries sustained in a plane crash.

His colleague, Joseph Leman, was one of the people who baptized and spread it, during the first decade of the 21st century. Based on this idea, there is even a novel called Overton's window, one of the best-selling works of the American and political commentator Glenn Beck in the last decade.

Bibliographic references:

• Mackinac Center For Public Policy. (2018). Authors, Joseph P. Overton. Retrieved May 22, 2018. Available in http://www.mackinac.org/bio.aspx? ID=.
• Lanchester, J. (2016). Brexit. Dossier of Free Letters. 4: 5-10. Retrieved May 22, 2018. Available in http://www.letraslibres.com/sites/default/files/2016-09/Dosier-lanchester-esp.pdf.