There are numerous sciences which study the way in which people handle, distribute and represent knowledge. But the study of how and why people share knowledge and thereby constitute their common reality, of how they transform ideas into practice – in a word, the power of ideas – is the specific problem of social psychology. This is by no means a secondary problem – witness the famous and conclusive remarks of Keynes: But apart from this contemporary mood, the ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back. I am sure that the power of vested interest is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas. ( Keynes , 1936, p . 383) The processes through which ideas are transmuted are not necessarily the province of philosophers and writers. Such processes take place in an anonymous manner; they apply to traditions, to common sense or to professional groupings, and in each case the same things could be said. They enter into relations and actions which are still in the making, anticipating what should happen and justifying it once it has happened.
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