The Tipping Point By: Malcolm Gladwell

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell is a remarkable book that makes extraordinary observations about our society and how trends of all types catch on. “The tipping point” is a concept broken into three parts that helps explain trends in fashion, crime, health, and many other aspects of our everyday lives or in our general society.

The tipping point is defined as an epidemic where everything can change all at once. Gladwell explains that little changes can have a big effect. Just a few people wearing cool shoes can start a nationwide trend or a couple hundred people who are sexually promiscuous can start a syphilis epidemic. Gladwell’s theory even extends to a psychological phenomenon known as “the bystander effect” where people in a group are less likely to assume responsibility. The concept of “the tipping point” itself is broken down to three parts. “Law of the Few” is the first part. This law deals with the success of any social epidemic. Economists attribute this law to the 80/20 principle. Basically, 20 percent of the population is accountable for 80 percent of the social phenomenon whether it is crime or anything else.

The second part is “The Stickiness Factor”. This refers to the ability of something, let’s say an advertisement to “stick”. Gladwell brings up the smoking advertisement. By saying that their cigarettes taste better than the other cigarette brands they make their brand stick and therefore were able to surpass the other brands in sales.

Lastly is “The Power of Context”. Earlier I mentioned the “bystander effect”. This effect falls into the power of context. This also explains social relationships. He uses the example of the woman “Kitty” who gets stabbed on a New York street as 38 witnesses watched from their apartments. No one called for help. The bystander effect states that people are less likely to assume responsibility when there are other people around. If someone faked a stroke and there was only one person next door they were very likely to come over and call for help. If there were more people, they were only 30 percent likely to call for help. People simply assume that other people will take care of the matter.

The Tipping Point is an eye-opening book that describes so many aspects that relate to our daily lives and societal phenomenons. It covers a vast area of topics and describes how trends can be contagious. We often think of diseases and sickness when we think of the word “contagious” but Malcolm Gladwell assures us that this word can be applied to other aspects of our lives.  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an eye opening experience. It’s said that one person cannot make a difference but the tipping point counters that statement. The smallest of effects can result in the biggest changes to our world.