consensus

(noun)

A process of decision making that seeks widespread agreement among group members.

Related Terms

Examples of consensus in the following topics:

  • Making Decisions

    • Consensus decision-making tries to avoid "winners" and "losers".
    • Consensus requires that a majority approve a given course of action, but that the minority agrees to go along with the course of action.
    • When a consensus is impossible, impractical, or undesirable, different voting systems can be used for a group to decide on an outcome.
    • Group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation of alternative ideas or viewpoints.
    • This diagram shows how decisions are made by consensus.

  • Groupthink

    • In groupthink, each member of the group attempts to conform his or her opinions to what he or she believes is the consensus of the group.
    • Even in group projects for school, individual members are disinclined to speak up against the group's consensus, creating a situation in which the final product is something no group member prefers.
    • In a groupthink situation, each member of the group attempts to conform his or her opinions to what they believe to be the consensus of the group.

  • The Functionalist Perspective

    • In the 1960s, functionalism was criticized for being unable to account for social change, or for structural contradictions and conflict (and thus was often called "consensus theory"), and for ignoring systematic inequalities including race, gender, and class, which cause tension and conflict.
    • During the turbulent 1960s, functionalism was often called "consensus theory," criticized for being unable to account for social change or structural contradictions and conflict, including inequalities related to race, gender, class, and other social factors that are a source of oppression and conflict.

  • Cultural Lag

    • Cultural lag is seen as a critical ethical issue because failure to develop broad social consensus on appropriate uses of modern technology may lead to breakdowns in social solidarity and the rise of social conflict .
    • We have the necessary technology to turn stem cells into neurons but have not yet developed ethical guidelines and cultural consensus on this practice.

  • Family Violence

    • Coercing a person to engage in sexual activity against his or her will, even if that person is a spouse or intimate partner with whom consensual sex has occurred, is an act of aggression and violence.
    • Coercing a person to engage in sexual activity against their will, even if that person is a spouse or intimate partner with whom consensual sex has occurred, is an act of aggression and violence.
    • Coercing a person to engage in sexual activity against his or her will, even if that person is a spouse or intimate partner with whom consensual sex has occurred, is an act of aggression and violence.

  • Sociology Today

    • Presently, sociological theories lack a single overarching foundation, and there is little consensus about what such a framework should consist of.

  • The Conflict Perspective

    • Competition, rather than consensus, is characteristic of human relationships.
    • In the conflict perspective, change comes about through conflict between competing interests, not consensus or adaptation.

  • Crime Statistics

    • The European researchers say a general consensus identifies demographic change as the leading cause for this international trend.
    • The European researchers say a general consensus identifies demographic change as the leading cause for this international trend.

  • Participatory Democracy

    • Political variants of participatory democracy include consensus democracy, deliberative democracy, demarchy, and grassroots democracy.
    • It adopts elements of both consensus decision making and majority rule.

  • Group Influence

    • The false consensus effect is the tendency for people to project their way of thinking onto other people.In other words, people often assume that everyone else thinks the same way they do.
    • This belief is unsubstantiated by statistical and qualitative data, leading to the perception of a consensus that does not exist.
    • Since the members of a group reach a consensus and rarely encounter those who dispute it, they tend to believe that everybody thinks the same way.
    • In a groupthink situation, each member of the group attempts to conform his or her opinions to what they believe to be the consensus of the group.