The Power Of Context By Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell’s article “The Trouble with Fries” is about a very invasive topic. Fast Food is killing us. Can it be fixed? Although his thesis statement isn’t exactly clear, he effectively uses evidence to convince his audience that a nutrition movement is needed especially for fast food. By discussing many factors with supporting evidence that is factual he shows why fast food is struggling to have a nutrition movement.

Arguably, human beings face cognitive association in their daily life. This occurs in the different spheres of life spanning from personal relations to different encounters that man has. The different associations we have been found to be instrumental in shaping up man’s thoughts, as well as behavior and cognitions. Both behavior and cognition are two important aspects of social psychology, which discusses the human behavior in the various social settings. These researchers established that man has different characters that are influenced by the presence of other individuals. Furthermore, the characters are dependent on one’s social influence, the social perception and the various social relationships. In most times, character develops through the entire life, and each situation comes with a lesson. Family, friends and peers, among others, are external forces that shape a person’s character. However, in the article “The Power of Context,” Malcom Gladwell argues that the environment influences peoples’ characters as well. Gladwell reviews aspects of people’s behavior development, how and what shapes their character. In this essay, Gladwell communicates his arguments of the effects of cognitive associations and physical surroundings on the behavior of a person through the analysis of psychological and social experiments. He specifically describes the epidemic theory and notes that it explains why crime is contagious just like the different fashion trends. This means that crime

In Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Power of Context,” includes a series of short anecdotes in which are all defined by environment and how society shapes mankind. While reading these short stories Gladwell put into the novel, the audience can conclude that the rules of society have the power to shape a person or community. When reading “The Power of Context,” the reader must be able to grasp the understanding of how environment can affect an individual. One would say nature is the setting in which a person is brought up, nurture is the care variable one has the power to influence how they behave or how the setting can define who they are. In this style of writing Gladwell uses, shifts in societies behaviors tell stories of how the setting can influence behaviors of the main characters.

Criminal case is always tedious when it involves little or no information about the offender, like in the 9/11 terrorist attack which annihilated most of the workers in and damaged the New York Trade Center building. However, in an attempt to identify the offenders, government officials and investigators try out different ways such as criminal profiling and others. Thus, in the New Yorker article, “Dangerous Minds” by Malcolm Gladwell; the author informs the deeper problems with FBI profiling and argues that it is ineffective. He questions the usefulness of criminal profiling, “But how useful is that profile, really?” and uses other criminal cases, group research analyses, and analogies to refute

Also, he attempts to warn consumers about how unhealthy fast foods really are. He makes a strong point; there is a need for nutritional information about fast food. Having access to the information about the contents and nutritional values of fast food may help one make an informed decision about his food options. However, people need to take accountability for the choices that they make. Choosing fast food is not a forced decision. With the nutritional information and will power at hand, can turn their lives around. When someone walks into a fast food restaurant, he or she is not trapped in there forever; all it takes is for him or her put down the burger and walk

When it comes to food in today's day and age it correlates with being convenient, fast, and budgeting because people are usually on the go. Generally, people are used to a grab and go routine between work, school, and a family life. Government regulations such as the FDA and other laws given to factories and supermarkets are being trusted to keep the population safe from any food dangerous; therefore, people don’t do their own research on the foods they’re serving. Authors Pollan and Schlosser in Food Matters, allows individuals to analyze and think about the intake of foods used in their daily life. Pollan shares some rules to be considered when shopping for foods in the supermarket. If people read in detail the theories and information given

McCorcle’s essay ‘Her Chee-to Heart is an informational essay with persuasive undertone that’s main point is that food has a positive emotional value. While the essay is best defined as informational, much of the essay's foundation is coming from the author's personal experience and thus, a more persuasive tone becomes embedded. There is a clear limitation exposed in McCorcle’s essay that cannot be ignored. While she promotes food as a form of comfort, it is unhealthy food that is most associated with in her essay. Turning to unhealthy foods as a form of comfort can develop into a detrimental habit.

The “individual consumer” can be taken to be a group of unique personals who each have a distinct idea on any specific topic, and in this case, junk food. The “collective demographic” is defined as the common opinions formed within the “collective demographic”. Even though these two entities are related, the individual way of thinking for the “individual consumer” is much different than that of the “collective demographic”. On the topic of junk food, the “individual consumer”, will report to being cautious about the effects of such foods, for they are aware of the epidemics involved with intakes of excessive sugars and fats. Watters explains the Japanese’s view on a factor they perceived as an illness, “the people’s attitude toward depression was very negative” (Watters 515). This can be used to better understand the “individual consumer"; a group of people who were trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The “collective demographic” held a different viewpoint on the subject of junk food. The posture of the “collective demographic” however is antithesis of that of the “individual consumer.” The “collective demographic” deemed junk food as unhealthy, but still allowed themselves to become addicted to such delicacies. Moss describes a very ironic circumstance with this way of living, “While people like and enjoy potato chips, they feel guilty for eating them” (Moss 272); a scenario in which a demographic would conceive something as harmful, but

In the article “The Pleasure of Eating”, Wendell Berry expresses his idea that in order for consumers to truly appreciate the food on their plates, they should know its origin and how it is produced. Berry was inspired by his realization that nowadays food productions are becoming more and more industrialized, and the consumers themselves are slowly transforming into industrial eaters. He states that there is a barrier between the people and the reality behind food production because people can purchase already packaged food at anywhere and anytime. This makes them ignorant to the hardship and the cruel conditions it went under to get on the shelves. He also criticizes the food industry, as it manipulates people to regard eating as a way of survival and not one of the many pleasures in life. Berry successfully appeals to pathos in order to further convince his urban consumers that eating is an act of pleasure. Therefore, people should take more into consideration on what they are eating and how it will affect them in the long run.

Throughout the articles, each one discussed the author’s perspective on food industries. Two articles argued whether the food companies should be blamed for the health epidemics or it should be a personal responsibility for consumers. While others discussed how food industries manipulate consumers into buying more of their food. Along the same lines, all the articles mentioned how the health epidemic is increasing and who must be fault for the growth. As well as finding a solution and who should help. Although the articles emphasize how obesity rate has grown, the public seems to blame food companies for manipulating consumers and others insist it is a consumer’s personal responsibility.

Over the last several decades, the diet of society has been continually changing. This has resulted in different formulas for nutrition and the proper portions of foods that must be consumed. To fully understand the various arguments requires looking at numerous viewpoints. This will be accomplished by focusing on Michael Pollan's Escape from the Western Diet in contrast with Mary Maxfield's Food as thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating. These views will highlight how diet and nutrition is based upon individual opinions. This is the focus of the thesis.

In the article “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food”, the writer Michael Moss mentioned that growing weight problem happened in America has become a major health crisis issue. While people are talking about obesity, they care more about how much sugar, salt and fat they consume during a day, which kind of processed food does harm to their body. It seems that food companies have an inalienable relationship with consumers’ health conditions, because they provide us with what we eat. These companies made their food taste better (putting sugar, salt and fat in product) for attracting more customers, and also tried to protect their individual customers from the “obesity epidemic”, which is named by Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Moss, 260), without losing market share. It put them a moral judgment of creating food that customers like or be good to customers’ health. However, another writer Ethan Watters describe a story in his article “The Mega-Marketing of Depression in Japan” that in the market of the depressant drug in Japan, pharmaceutical companies faced a dilemma. They found it so hard to construct a Western-view concept of “depression” among a large-scale demographic of Japanese people, to contribute to their mental health problem, and to make a profit for sure. In the former case, food companies applied multiple marketing strategies to collective demographics to create more individuals’ desire of consumption, while they were striving to protect

Zinczenko’s rhetorical comments on the fast food industry are spaced throughout his piece. Zinczenko also states that alternative options are hard to find when fast food is readily available. “Drive down any thoroughfare in America, and I guarantee you’ll see one of our country’s more than 13,000 McDonald’s restaurants. Now, drive back up the block and try to find someplace to buy a grapefruit” (Zinczenko 463). This strong statement proves Zinczenko’s irritated tone throughout his piece. Zinczenko’s stand that the fast food industry is responsible for obesity.

Have you ever thought of food as an “agricultural act”? When we are hungry, we eat whatever we want. We do not strive to get the right type of nutrients in what we consume daily or enjoy eating healthy. Food that is available to use effortlessly is the food we go for instead of rediscovering the ‘pleasure’ of food. Wendell Berry contributes in many different ways in his article including emotional appeal and reality to prove to us the various questions that should be arising in our minds when purchasing foods.

The elements generate aberration or divergence that Zinczenko (2002) communicates regarding his college life and how he came up a health magazine that enabled him to transform his body into the regular and healthy form. Previously, Zinczenko had tried to connect the blame of the company to the aspects of obesity with blaming Porsche cars for leading to police stops for the check. For that matter, the author employs aberration to draw the mind of the reader to an important idea that revolves around making a healthy plan instead of living a life of airing blames (Zwaan, 2014). Also, Zinczenko uses rhetoric questions to communicate his points regarding diabetes type 2 diabetes and possible ways of limiting the pandemic from affecting people regardless of taking fast foods in restaurants. Along with type 2 diabetes obese kids are also at risk for bone and joint problems, shortness of breath, asthma, sleep apnea and liver and gall bladder disease according to kids health magazine.