Susan Faludi's The Power Of Context

Societal norms are defined by the expectations society has upon its inhabitants. In the western world, for example, it is expected for people to exchange gifts with each other during the holidays. Another example would be that in traditional India, people are expected to marry through an arranged marriage. However sometimes, a person’s immediate context or specific circumstances in a situation might alter whether that person follows the expectations set by his or her society or not by behaving in a different manner. This idea of a person’s immediate context or situation changing a person’s behavior is presented in Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Power of Context”. His theory further seems to be applied in Susan Faludi’s “The Naked Citadel”, an essay

that illustrates a misogynistic male society within a military school called the Citadel and the students’ hateful reaction to the admission of a female student to the institution. As Gladwell would point out, the specific situation of the admission of a woman placed in the Citadel changes the male students’ behaviors by forcing them to act differently than what their society would dictate them to do. However, Gladwell’s theory is not completely accurate since it does not account for the way a specific environment may change a person’s overall beliefs in general. Even though Gladwell’s theory explains the change in behavior the students of the Citadel experience when faced with a specific situation, it does not recognize how an environment may also act like a virus to people’s beliefs: the immediate context can also influence people internally by changing their belief systems.
Sometimes, a new environment or situation is able to change an entire belief system someone holds.

In Susan Faludi’s “The Naked Citadel”, the military school’s gender setup causes the students to become hateful against woman: “Another is the rule that so many of the cadets say brought them to this Moorish-style, gated campus: Girls keep out” (Faludi 73). As Malcolm Gladwell would correctly recognize, this new structured society would serve as an immediate context that would change the behaviors the male students would display against women. However, the change demonstrated by the students goes much deeper than just behavior. These students grew up in a heterogeneous world, where both sexes interacted with each other. So does simply attending an all-male institution only affect the behavior of the students? On the contrary, the single sex society not only changed the behavior, as Gladwell would point out, but also changed the beliefs the students held. The students passionately believed after joining the Citadel that women were objects of hate and inferiority. Their misogynistic qualities and beliefs developed because of the environment they were placed into. The situation they were in led them to not only behave, but also truly believe that men were the dominant and superior gender. This type of change in belief systems is also illustrated in Gladwell’s “The Power of Context”. In his essay, Gladwell mentions how only after a societal change of drastically decreased violence

did people believe that the violent murders of four young black teenagers that Bernhard Goetz committed were indeed wrong and unjust: “It was simply inconceivable that someone could pull a gun on someone else on the subway and be called a hero for it” (Gladwell 151). Since the new environment was characterized with fewer crimes and more order, people’s beliefs changed. They did not just behave in a certain different way that their new environment dictated, but also they believed that the actions of Goetz were wrong and unreasonable. In both cases in Gladwell and Faludi’s essays, a new environment had a much greater effect on people than just altering their behavior. The immediate context defines the beliefs people hold and is able to change those belief systems in great measures.
A different environment is able to not only change how a person acts or thinks, but also who the person believes he or she is.

Sometimes a new situation can create very different mindsets in a person. In Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Power of Context”, a social experiment was conducted where people are randomly chosen to take upon roles as either prisoners or prison guards over a period of time in a prison: “A group of scientists…decided to create a mock prison…half of the group were chosen, at random, to be guards. […] the other half were told that they were to be prisoners” (Gladwell 157). This experiment resulted with the prison guards, who were noted to be pacifists before, adapting violent and sordid methods of handling the prisoners. The immediate context or situation the pacifistic individuals were placed in suddenly caused them to take upon very different roles or attitudes. Not only did their behavior change, as Gladwell would note due to their new environment, but also their mentalities were completely altered when given absolute rule. The individuals adapted to very different roles almost unintentionally when placed in that specific situation. Such a type of change in personalities is also illustrated in Faludi’s “The Naked Citadel”. In her essay, Susan Faludi points out how, by becoming part of the environment established in the Citadel, the male students adapted to very aggressive and violent dispositions from who they were before: “An infuriated father who wanted to

know what had happened to his son “to change him from a levelheaded, optimistic…individual to a fatigued…confused, bitter one”” (Faludi 84). As demonstrated by Gladwell’s theory, the new situation the students were placed into changed their behaviors into violent and bitter ones. However, their immediate context did more that that. The hateful and repulsive atmosphere contained in the Citadel forced the male students to be changed internally as well. Not only did they act and behave violently, but their characters also become aggressive and hostile. Their personalities adapted to the hate and violence their situation presented them with. In both cases shown in both Faludi’s “The Naked Citadel” and Gladwell’s “The Power of Context”, the individuals did not only behave in a certain fashion their environments called for, but also and more importantly their internal characters and personalities changed dramatically because of the strong penetrating effects their immediate context presented them with.
Even though an environment’s specific details and characteristics can influence how people behave, they can also define people’s own expectations for society. When presented by a specific situation’s features, people can develop what they believe is expected of their society. This idea is illustrated by both the criminals and innocent people living in New York City at both times when violence was at its highest and lowest as presented in Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Power of Context”: “Muggers and robbers, whether opportunistic or professional, believe they reduce their chances of being caught or even identified if they operate on streets where potential victims are already intimidated by prevailing conditions” (Gladwell 152). When crime level was at its peak, not only did criminals know that they were able to get away with breaking the law, but also innocent and regular people understood the fact that there was no justice established in their society. Both types of peoples developed expectations of their society based on the characteristics of their environment. Furthermore, when the immediate context soon adapted features of order and justice, people’s expectations of society drastically changed. Not only did criminals and people behave differently, but also they had different expectations of their situation. They knew that their environment now commanded order and that a sense of law and justice was indeed present. Whereas criminals understood that their crimes and wrongdoings would not be tolerated anymore, people also realized that they could carry out their days without the fear of being mugged or robbed. Similarly, this change of expectations for society is demonstrated in Faludi’s “The Naked Citadel”. In her essay, Susan Faludi points out how the male students adapted homosexual-like characteristics because of the gender setup presented by their school: “It’s like a true marriage. There’s an affectionate intimacy that you will find between cadets” (Faludi 97). The immediate context the students were placed into changed what the students can expect from their environment. The Citadel’s atmosphere promoted a strong sense of camaraderie between the men. The students understood that, because of their situation, they were able to develop a sense of love and relation with their peers. The men could expect that their homosexual-like attraction with each other would not be ridiculed within environment created by the Citadel. In both situations presented in both Faludi’s “The Naked Citadel” and Gladwell’s “The Power of Context”, the details and characteristics of a specific immediate context can alter not only what society expects from its inhabitants, but also what people can expect from their environment.
Environment can create a wide variety of changes within a person or even a society. Sometimes, the small details of a certain atmosphere also can cause people to behave differently, as noted by the Broken Windows Theory presented in Malcolm Gladwell’s essay. However such an immediate context, not only can change people’s behaviors, but also can even shape their beliefs and views. A new and different environment is able to penetrate people much further than just their actions. As presented in Susan Faludi’s “The Naked Citadel”, the students’ beliefs and personalities were changed because of the new situation they were placed into. Even though Gladwell is correct to point out that their behavior does change due to their immediate context, it must be taken into account that sometimes an environment or immediate context can also change the ideas people believe in.