the conventional wisdom

the conventional wisdom

Common knowledge that is held to be true, but may not be. The conventional wisdom says to feed a cold and starve a fever, but that doesn't reflect current medical practice.
See also: conventional, wisdom
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

conventional wisdom

A widely held belief on which most people act. For example, According to conventional wisdom, an incumbent nearly always wins more votes than a new candidate . This term was invented by John Kenneth Galbraith, who used it in The Affluent Society (1958) to describe economic ideas that are familiar, predictable, and therefore accepted by the general public. Today it is used in any context where public opinion has considerable influence on the course of events.
See also: conventional, wisdom
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

conventional/received ˈwisdom

the view or belief that most people have: Conventional wisdom has it that riots only ever happen in big cities.The term conventional wisdom was first used by the economist John Kenneth Galbraith in his book The Affluent Society.
See also: conventional, received, wisdom
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

conventional wisdom, the

What the majority believe and act upon. The term was coined by the American economist John Kenneth Galbraith in The Affluent Society (1958), in which he so described economic views that are familiar, predictable, and therefore generally accepted. It was soon transferred to other areas in which public opinion plays an important role in influencing events. It has just about replaced the now virtually obsolete cliché, climate of opinion.
See also: conventional
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • conventional
  • conventional wisdom
  • conventional wisdom, the
  • conventional/received wisdom
  • the received wisdom
  • starve a cold, feed a fever
  • starve
  • worldly wisdom
  • for all (one) cares
  • for all I, you, etc. care
References in periodicals archive
I like to repeat (and abide by) a mantra: The conventional wisdom in politics is always wrong.
Beware the conventional wisdom
Then the textbook introduces relevant sociological concepts and theories that mesh with or debunk the conventional wisdom. Among the topics are winning is everything, beauty is only skin deep, America is the land of equal opportunity, honesty is the best policy, marriage is a failing institution, immigrants are ruining the nation, and education is the great equalizer.
Second Thoughts: Sociology Challenges Conventional Wisdom, 6th Edition
The conventional wisdom works for Pauken, to a point; Cruz, now the state's junior U.S.
Sometimes, It's Hard to Make a Good Political Bet
But as the Supreme Court recently discovered, the conventional wisdom does not always reflect reality.
NRACLU? Fourth Amendment, meet Second
One wants to say that he pushed the conventional wisdom toward the position that, if nothing else, the Park51 developers have the right to build their center there, and in fact he probably did.
Obama's Park51 Mistake
Challenging the conventional wisdom on the property tax.
Challenging the conventional wisdom on the property tax
Perhaps lawmakers will see that the value of defined benefit plan relief trumps the conventional wisdom. Despite WRERA relief, and imminent administrative relief expected from the Treasury Department as of press time for this column, many employer plan sponsors continue to face unprecedented funding pressure in the face of falling corporate bond interest rates and tight credit markets.
Ready for a new conventional wisdom?
The problem with the conventional wisdom regarding losing weight is that if you exercise more and eat less you can reduce your weight--and maintain the weight level that you want.
Your Designer Diet
This is the second volume in Cuthbert's challenging assault on the conventional wisdom on urban design and the physical determinism that still shapes most designers' approaches to the subject.
City forum
Daring to defy the conventional wisdom that globalization is placing the primary downward pressure on American wages, Globalization And The Politics Of Pay, Hansen's comprehensive analysis presents evidence that free-market ideologies, low voter turnout, and choices made directly by America's states through their laws and policies have had a greater effect on keeping wages low than globalization; furthermore, foreign trade and investment can lead to higher pay in the state labor market.
Globalization And The Politics Of Pay
Challenging such issues as the conventional wisdom that globalization can be blamed for the decline in earnings, Globalization And The Politics Of Pay offers a logical, concise grasp of how American political decisions have effected economic growth and demographics.
Globalization And The Politics Of Pay
and the conventional wisdom posited that straight men just don't care about shopping--at least not enough to sustain a magazine whose content was simply the presentation of products for purchase,
Was Cargo too gay?
The conventional wisdom the title refers to is hardly conventional.
Challenging Conventional Wisdom: Debunking the Myths and Exposing the Risks of Arms Export Reform
The presidential commission investigating intelligence failures leading to the Iraq war wrote the following in its final report, released in March: "[I]t is hard to deny the conclusion that intelligence analysts worked in an environment that did not encourage skepticism about the conventional wisdom." Embedded in that whopping understatement is a jewel of good governance: the free exchange of ideas, including an openness to dissent.
The death of fact-checking: what the "journalism of assertion" costs us
"Milk makes mucus," goes the conventional wisdom. Yet few studies have tested milk's effect on cold sufferers.
10 myths that won't quit