Analysis Of The Tipping Point By Malcolm Gladwell

Well-written author and journalist, Malcolm Gladwell, in his nonfictional physcology-based novel The Tipping Point, identifies and analyzes the underlying causes behind major social changes in order to generalize the trends into predictable, understandable categories. Gladwell's intention of explaining why some ideas create turmoil while others do not, as well as demonstrating to readers how to spark their own evolution of society, is quite clear from the beginning of the novel. It is only through his breaking down of such a complex topic into familiar, relatable ideas though, that his prime motive noticeably shifts to creating an easily-understandable, absorbing text that can be as effortlessly circulated throughout society as the “epidemics”

He starts off with this concept early in the work, encouraging the mysterious changes discussed throughout the book to be thought of “as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do” (Gladwell 7). The fact that Gladwell refers to social changes as viruses is eye-opening to the reader; social changes seem foreign to most people, but practically everyone knows at least a few characteristics of a powerful virus: contagious, widespread, freely-transmitted. Gladwell’s theory behind using these analogies is extremely sensible; a study found that in organic chemistry, students taught using analogies “showed significantly greater achievement than the students in the control group [who were taught without analogies]” (Nawaf Ahmad Hasan 1). This is exactly what Gladwell aims for with the use of analogies throughout his writing, as his intent of the piece is to make the intricate topic enjoyable and coherent for the everyday