The Tipping Point

Malcolm Gladwell's number one national bestselling novel The Tipping Point dissects revolutionary social trends and their causes, drawing on real historical events to demonstrate his points with clarity and purpose. The novel is compelling and original, using experiences that everyone can relate to, drawing the reader in and making him or her feel like they are discovering the facts for themselves. Gladwell found modern examples of everything he addressed in the form of real life persons, and shows the readers how these ideas and concepts are present in our everyday lives.

The Tipping Point addresses the phenomena of certain social trends, ones that for a while are low key and unknown and then explode into a cultural obsession, or ones that at the height of their popularity suddenly plummet to obscurity. That point where a trend rises or falls is called the "tipping point," the event or person that triggers a set of reactions that leads to one of the two outcomes stated above. Malcolm Gladwell says of his book:

It is the biography of an idea, and that idea is very simple. It is the best way to understand the emergence of fashion trends, the ebb and flow of crime waves, or, for that matter, the transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth, or any number of other mysterious changes that mark everyday life is to think of them as epidemics.

This idea of social trends as epidemics is central to the book, as Gladwell points out that such trends have much in common with epidemics. First of all, social trends are clear examples of contagious behavior. They often start out with only a few people, and those few people are the main means of conveying a trend to the rest of a population. Fashion trends begin with a few different minded people starting their own fashion, and they spread those fashions until they become popular to the point where their styles are being featured in fashion shows. Secondly, in most cases of explosive trends, small changes created big effects. The actions of a few, or the circumstances in a small situation affect the larger picture to an almost disproportional degree. A third characteristic is that all the changes occur quickly. There's no slow build-up, no steady decline, but sharp rises or falls. It all occurs in one dramatic moment, the tipping point. This is the same way one could describe an outbreak of a virus in a small town.

The majority of Gladwell's book is dedicated to the three rules of epidemics: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. The Law of the Few states that any social epidemic is based on the efforts of a few people with a particular set of social skills. This law is heavily studied by economists, and is referred to as the 80/20 Principle, in which 80% of the work is done by 20% of the population. For example, 80% of beer is drunk by 20% of beer drinkers. Those who affect the social change are coined by Gladwell as Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. Connectors are those people who form large social networks for the sake of meeting people, and have an uncanny ability to form relationships with mere acquaintances. Mavens are information specialists, people who garner information about a particular market, and then distribute it to people around them, making their knowledge public. Salesmen are, like their name implies, people with the charismatic ability to sell you on an idea, so convince those who are doubtful to take a certain course of action. For all of these Gladwell sites Paul Revere as one of the best examples. Paul Revere and William Dawes both set out on a fateful night to warn the militias of the coming of the British, but Paul Revere's ride is famous while William Dawes' is practically unheard of. That is because Paul Revere was a Connector, a Maven, and a Salesman all at once. He knew many people through his work as a messenger, he ran information gathering groups to find out about the British, and he had the charisma to convince militia leaders and common folk about the urgency and veracity of his message. Paul Revere was one of those rare people who could reach everyone and bring them to his cause with ease, helping to set in motion one of the most important events in our nation's history: the Revolutionary War.

The second of the three rules of epidemics is known as the Stickiness Factor. The Stickiness factor is the specific content of a message that renders it more memorable to the listener or audience. This idea is crucial, because if no one remembers what the message was or the effect is not lasting, then there is no hope for any significant change in trend. This is especially crucial in advertising, where the entire point is to get a customer to remember a product or service. For example, Winston filter-tip cigarettes came up with a new and catchy slogan to promote their cigarettes, "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should." The grammatical and syntax problems made the slogan more memorable, and within months soared past competition to become the second largest cigarette seller at the time, and soon after became the largest.

The third and final rule of epidemics is the Power of Context, which states that people will react differently in certain situations depending on the surroundings and the specific context. For example, during the spring and summer months, the spread of STDs in East and West Baltimore increase at a rapid rate, but during the colder seasons drop down dramatically. The cold deters people from frequenting several bars and thus increasing the risk of getting an STD. Take another example, the 1964 stabbing of Kitty Genovese. Kitty was attacked three times over the course of a half hour and eventually killed, all while thirty-eight of her neighbors watched from their windows. None of them called the police. When later asked, none of them could even say why they didn't call the police. After several experiments, psychologists have determined that this was because with so many people watch, all the neighbors thought that if there were really a problem, someone else would call the police. If only one person had been witness, Kitty's life probably would've been saved.

This book aptly expresses a form of journalism that is deeply researched and thought through, with not a single extraneous thought or sentence. Malcolm Gladwell clarifies every point with a precise and relevant example, showing just how prevalent the concept of tipping points exist in our lives. He reveals the causes of social trends in a way that they can be applied through our everyday lives, whether it's to spread an idea, sell a product, or try to change the world.