One sure way you can tell how quickly a new idea -- for example, the idea of privatization -- is taking hold among the population is to monitor how fast the word or words expressing that particular idea are passing into common usage
Professional opinions of whether or not words can indeed be said to have passed into common usage are available from dictionary editors, who are vitally concerned with this question
As a word passes into common usage, its meaning does not undergo any severe distortions in the process.