Public common sense reproduces pro-establishment definitions especially during social change

Evidence

The public does not approach this process of “making sense of crime” tabula rasa. It brings to bear interpretative schema, uninspected assumptions, common sense, tacit knowledge, and forms of reasoning, many of which are already in place, though not necessarily in a logical, consistent, or evidential form (they are no less compelling for that). Especially when society feels threatened by the pace or direction of social change—as British society did when confronted by the unsettling effects of postwar “affluence” and migration in the 1950s/60s—the majority tends, commonsensically, to reproduce definitions and approaches to problems which are supportive of the existing structures of power: adopting, for example, “traditionalist” views on crime, race, and punishment. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 1051

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• XREF: Connects directly to Gramsci’s notion of hegemony and common sense, which Hall himself invokes here; also echoes the conservative reaction described in ‘Complaints About Immodesty.’
• DEFINE: Explains how ‘common sense’ operates as an ideological force that tends to reinforce existing power structures.

Related

• People’s existing common sense makes them default to views supporting power. (similarity 0.91)
• Common sense is a historical construct with changing ideological contents. (similarity 0.80)
• Popular common sense is sedimented class struggle that can be actively reworked (similarity 0.79)