The Overton Window

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” — attributed to Mahatma Gandhi

You might not have heard of the phrase, but you definitely know the feeling that something that was once an "out there" idea is now law. Over my lifetime there have been huge advances in LGBTQ+ rights, smoking bans, terrorism laws and the minimum wage to name but a few. All ideas went through a predictable pattern called the Overton Window.

What is the Overton Window?

The Overton window named after policy expert Joseph Overton is the range of ideas a public is currently willing to entertain. Importantly, political leaders tend to operate inside it; movement-builders work to shift it. Importantly whilst we do not easily perceive it, the Overton window moves over time and can differ between countries and communities.

There are six stages of the Overton Window

Stage	Mainstream perception
Unthinkable	Outlandish
Radical	Extreme solution
Acceptable	Might work but impractical
Sensible	Could see why we would want that
Popular	Worth a try
Policy	The best solution

Some ideas go from unthinkable to policy, others go some of the way but not all the way as they meeting resistance. Whilst we often think of laws and policy as rational and inevitable, reality is that they are lot more fluid than that. Policies rely on influence, lived experience, propaganda and changing circumstances.

An example of the Overton Window is from US education policy. At each end are extremes of government involvement. At the least regulated end is no government regulation of education. There are many degrees in the middle and at the most regulated top-down end is compulsory enrollment and attendance of federally controlled schools. The politicians can speak about policies within a fairly broad range, but would lose support outside.

Source: The Overton Window – Mackinac Center

The Overton Window is not static

Take the prohibition of alcohol in the US as an example which has moved in and out of the Overton window.

• In the 1800s, temperance was a minority movement with religious backing. This took it from radical -> acceptable.

• In the early 1900s alcohol laws became popular and in 1919 enacted into policy.

• The lived reality of prohibition which was organised crime and lost tax revenue then rapidly turned the window back from policy -> unacceptable. In 1933 prohibition was repealed.

The same arc shows up elsewhere: smoking in public spaces (from normal to banned), seat belts (from intrusive to common sense), and more recently cannabis legalisation in some jurisdictions.

Why does the Overton Window matter

If you want to change outcomes, change what’s thinkable. Policy rarely jumps; it edges along the boundaries of public acceptability. Understanding how boundaries help us see which actions we should create movements for today such a “no chance” becomes tomorrow’s “of course”.

Anatomy of ideas becoming policy:

The suffragette movement (granting women an equal vote to men) charted a path like many:

1. Pioneers name the unsayable. 

   1. Activists, academics or entrepreneurs of ideas push the fringe.

2. Frames and metaphors make it graspable. 

   1. “Women who won the war on the homefront need to be recognised.”

   2. “Denying Women a right like this is Unchristian.”

3. Influencing public opinion. 

   1. Won over through coordinated writing, confrontation and publicity.

4. Community members make it safe. 

   1. Celebrity or business endorsements, direct stories.

5. Normalisation via repetition. 

   1. Media coverage and lived experience changes with more women in the workplace.

6. Institutionalisation. White papers → draft bills → budgets → regulations.

In short: narrative → evidence → coalition → normalisation → law.

The Overton window is very complicated now

Our information diet is increasingly segmented. The result is parallel Overton windows that overlap only partly:

• Climate change: Decarbonisation and carbon pricing “sensible”; another treats them as economically destructive and keeps them nearer “radical”.

• Cryptocurrency: For some audiences, these are dangerous ponzi schemes, with no asset backing nor reason to exist, for others these are the backbone of decentralised finance.

• Vaccines: COVID and the introduction of vaccine passports sparked much more muscular opposition to vaccines in recent years. In the US in particular the institutional trust in vaccines has been eroded.

How does the Overton window change?

The Overton Window can sometimes move through people trying to push it, and at other times it might move because of circumstances/evidence:

Influence:

• Narrative entrepreneurs: How can you change the wording to make it less refutable. "Living wage" rather than "Increase minimum wage" to focus on dignity not economic costs. These tend to be crafted by think tanks, academics, creators and comedians who craft sticky frames.

• Media and platforms: You do not get heard or your content is dampened, if you go against the worldview of a platform. There is a reason why people buy newspapers and social media applications. X is excellent at making a message that is radical in the real world feel unanimous, through coordinated messaging and algorithmically filtered messages.

• Business leaders, celebrities and money: Capital and employment give ideas pragmatic weight.

Circumstances:

• Emergencies: Crises (financial, security, public health) accelerate movement by changing the cost of inaction.

• Evidence: trials elsewhere help make it real with results that show it could be a good idea

• Time: When people have been hearing an idea and framing for a while, it becomes far less scary. This element of "marinating" is unusually effective.

What are the practical take-aways of the Overton window

1. If you speak into the wrong window, you sound extreme. Effective communicators either bridge windows (shared facts/values) or choose one and expand it.

2. Across countries: What’s “sensible” can diverge sharply—e.g., gun control (US vs UK), or nuclear energy (France’s acceptance vs Germany’s phase‑out). The same policy can sit at “popular” in one place and “radical” in another.

3. Across age cohorts: Younger voters tend to place climate urgency, data privacy/platform rules, and hybrid work further inside the window than older groups, who may weight public order and tradition more heavily. Importantly cohort turnover shifts the centre over time.

 Overton window changes

• Immigration: is moving to more restrictive

• Data Privacy: has moved from radical -> popular

• Work-from-home: moved from privilege to right but seems to be in some industries moving back towards privilege

• Alcohol: Moving from acceptable social lubricant to harmful obesity cause, with other intoxicants moving the opposite way.

So what?

1. The Overton window defines what’s “sayable.” Ideas travel from unthinkable to inevitable, and recognising the stages helps explain social and political change.

2. There are parallel windows. With segmented media diets, climate change, crypto, or vaccines can be “sensible” to one group and “radical” to another.

3. Ideas can shift suddenly. Crises (like COVID or financial shocks) can fast-forward movement from fringe to policy.

4. Narratives matter as much as facts. Framing (“living wage” vs “minimum wage rise”) and repetition normalise ideas faster than logic alone.

5. Control the conversation, control the window. Media platforms, influencers, and institutions decide what gets debated and how it’s framed — shaping tomorrow’s policies.

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