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Summary Of The Tipping Point By Malcolm Gladwell

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Inside The Evidence On “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell discuss different concepts that explain the sudden spread of a product or idea. Gladwell explains that this sudden and instantaneous spread is very similar to an epidemic. Gladwell uses the examples of fashion trends, the success of a book, the decrease of crime in New York City, smoking and the increase of suicide rate. To explain “the three rules of the Tipping Point, the law of the few, the stickiness factor and the power of context” (29) influence how a trend, product or action takes off as an epidemic. In the power of context Gladwell introduces a different way of being a connector. That one person can connect to many groups (173) and that small groups have the potential …show more content…

Gladwell presents us with many examples of real life situations when his idea of “word of mouth” comes out to be true. In the majority of the examples and proves Gladwell shows in this chapter heavily appeal to logos and ethos. Gladwell supports his argument with past historical events and also with scientific studies. Not everyone will enjoy reading this type of approach Gladwell decided to use for his argument. But it just simply gives more credibility to his argument. The rise of the Methodist church is a better evidence to support one of Gladwell’s main idea which is the stickiness factor rather than using the rise to popularity of the “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood”. Although, the Ya-Ya Sisterhood reached success due to the “word of mouth” and caused some stickiness, still not everyone is aware of its success. There is a greater percentage of people who are part of the Methodist church and live according to the ideology taught by its founder John Wesley (172). According to Gladwell the Methodist movement went from 20,000 to 90,000 followers in a space of five years. Also the fact that after centuries the Methodist church is still relevant until this day and it is a better example to prove the idea of the stickiness factor or the “word of mouth” but it also gives a perspective of how long something can stick

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