The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
The thrust of the book is that there are three issues that can converge to bring about dramatic and perhaps unexpectedly fast changes in our society. These are the context (the situational setting - particularly when it is near the balance or 'tipping point'), the thought, and the folks involved. His point is that very small adjustments in any or several of the context, the standard of the concept (which he calls 'stickiness', ie how nicely the idea sticks), or whether or not the concept reaches a very small group of key individuals can set off a dramatic epidemic of change in society.
THE TIPPING POINT is that magic moment when an thought, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, suggestions, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick individual can begin an epidemic of the flu, so can also a small however exactly focused push trigger a trend trend, the recognition of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, wherein Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way folks throughout the world take into consideration selling merchandise and disseminating ideas.
The premise of this facile piece of pop sociology has built-in appeal: little adjustments can have big results; when small numbers of individuals begin behaving otherwise, that conduct can ripple outward until a crucial mass or "tipping point" is reached, changing the world. Gladwell's thesis that ideas, products, messages and behaviors "spread similar to viruses do" remains a metaphor as he follows the growth of "word-of-mouth epidemics" triggered with the help of three pivotal types. These are Connectors, sociable personalities who deliver individuals collectively; Experts, who prefer to move along data; and Salesmen, adept at persuading the unenlightened. (Paul Revere, for instance, was a Maven and a Connector). Gladwell's applications of his "tipping point" concept to current phenomena--such because the drop in violent crime in New York, the rebirth of Hush Puppies suede footwear as a suburban mall favourite, teenage suicide patterns and the efficiency of small work units--could arouse controversy. For instance, many parents may be alarmed at his recommendation on drugs: since youngsters' experimentation with medication, including cocaine, seldom leads to hardcore use, he contends, "Now we have to cease fighting this type of experimentation.
Now we have to just accept it and even embrace it." Whereas it gives a smorgasbord of intriguing snippets summarizing research on subjects resembling conversational patterns, infants' crib speak, judging different people's character, dishonest habits in schoolchildren, memory sharing among families or couples, and the dehumanizing effects of prisons, this quantity betrays its roots as a collection of articles for the New Yorker, where Gladwell is a workers writer: his fashionable materials feels bloated and insubstantial in guide form.
