The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point

        The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell, is a book that describes how major changes can occur in society when certain thing reach a tipping point. Gladwell gives the three rules for the tipping point: contagiousness; the fact that little causes can have big effects; and change happens in one moment. Gladwell argues that little things can make a big difference in social dynamics. He selects examples from a wide variety of social situations to illustrate how an idea or trend can become contagious, spreading quickly from a small beginning to a mass audience. First, the concept of contagiousness, for example, the Hush Puppy shoes, with lightweight crepe soles and suede uppers, were a popular brand in the 1970’s, but by the early 1990’s sales had dropped to about 30,000 pairs per year, executives at the Wolverine Shoe Company were thinking about phasing them out. In 1996, sales increased to more than one million pairs, and the next year to almost two million. All this happened basically by word of mouth, without an advertising campaign by the manufacturer. Second, the principle of epidemics that little changes can have big effects, Gladwell arguments about the decline of the crime rate in New York appears sound on the surface, he gives no credit to the fact that there was an increased police presence, and a booming economy that lowered the unemployment rate. Finally, the change that happens in one moment, for example, the fax effect describes the value of one fax machine growing as more fax machines are shipped, as these new network technologies become more ubiquitous, as well the he phones network is so large and unwieldly that we are increasingly only interested in using it selectively. The theory of Tipping Points requires that we reframe the way we think about the world. The book challenges its readers to look beyond their intuition and concentrate their resources on a few key areas.