"Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good"

This quote by Thomas Sowell is a commentary on the state of Western society in the previous three years. It suggests that instead of making decisions based upon what is shown to work, many people have actually instead picked to make choices based upon what sounds great. This has actually resulted in a shift away from practical solutions and towards more optimistic ones. This shift has had a profound result on the social history of the Western world, as it has actually led to a focus on what is popular instead of what is effective. This has had a negative impact on the progress of society, as it has actually resulted in a lack of progress and a lack of significant modification. Eventually, this quote functions as a pointer that choices need to be made based upon what works, not what sounds great.