The Power Of Context Gladwell Analysis

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.

The community has a set behavior, good or bad, that is demanded of its citizens. Gladwell has an explanation of why this is so by saying that “the impetus to engage in a certain kind of behavior is not coming from a certain kind of person but from a feature of the environment” (152). The Citadel, which is the military college Faludi talks about, epitomizes this. Faludi explains a hidden pact in school: “The Citadel assures that any desire on the part of a cadet to speak out about the mounting violence will usually be squelched by the threat of ostracism and shame” (81). In this case, the environment, which is The Citadel, has a set behavior and anyone who comes within that community becomes stripped of their individuality, and also become a reflection of the “certain kind of behavior” that the community demands (Gladwell 152). Notice that there is no board of students or group of officers in charge of this; “The Citadel assures” it (81). It shows that the community as a whole wants to maintain the violence, and anybody against it would not be a part of that community. By applying Gladwell’s theory, it is seen that if someone wants to be a part of such a community they must accept the violence. This is a problem as, internally, this system will continue to thrive. More people in the community leads to more followers of the

In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the author develops the idea that when faced with internal conflict, it may lead into sacrificing one’s values, resulting in an undesirable end.

Some believe crime is committed due to poverty or desperation, others believe its committed in view of envy, and on the other hand, Gladwell believes crime is committed due to the surroundings of an individual. In ‘The Power of Context,’ Gladwell discusses the occurrence of crime in New York, stating that its major cause is the immediate environment one is in. Gladwell believes that the environment we’re in has a major effect on our behavior and eventually it makes us act according to it. Gladwell goes to great measures to prove his point, stating number of examples, including a number of major theories. However, is the environment really the only determinant of our actions? Gladwell tries to convince the audience that in the end it is the surroundings of an individual and the small things that matter. Trying to convince the audience and make them agree with him, Gladwell uses some big concepts and examples of crime in New York to prove to his audience that in the end, it actually is the small things or the ‘Tipping Points’ that make a completely normal human being commit a crime.

Gladwell also talks about how the citizens of New York City viewed the incident and eventually combatted crime. Violence does not desensitize or effect the conscience of the people it affects, but rather it becomes a daily part of their lives. When citizens are exposed to violence every day, it becomes more of a habit of their environment and normal to them. It becomes so normal that the only way to create change is for a major type of violent act, that these citizens are not used to seeing, to occur for them to realize that change needs to occur. This is what causes the citizens to overlook violence and realize that change needs to happen, not because they become desensitized or have bad

Gladwell opts for the discussion of playing with the readers emotions, each of which affects a different demographic group. Thus, he succeeds in effectively creating a relationship between the audience and pathos using emotional appeal from the beginning to the end of his article. Gladwell uses “real world” problems to create a bond between his article and the reader, such as the racial profiling of terrorist and everyday people of the same descent. After meeting with New York City’s police commissioner, he states, ““We have a policy against racial profiling,” Raymond Kelly, New York City’s police commissioner, told me. “I put it in here in March of the first year I was here. It’s the wrong thing to do, and it’s also ineffective. If you look at the London bombings, you have three British citizens of Pakistani descent, in that case, who is going to be profiled?” If you guessed the British citizens of Pakistani descent, then you are correct. Most of the readers were likely not aware of New York City’s policy of racial profiling or any profiling laws and the negative effect it has on ethnic people for that matter. Gladwell is really toying with your emotions because he is using these metaphors to inhibit the feeling of being dejected within his audience. We tend as people to not worry about the sadness that is present in society, but Gladwell makes it a priority to bring out the sadness within the effects of racially profiling.

Starting in Chapter 6 Gladwell presents us with the mysterious and seemingly inexplicable series of events that occurred in Harlan, Kentucky in the 19th century to introduce the enormous effect of cultural legacies.

The cognitive abilities and processes have a massive influence on personal behavior adjustments while physical surroundings also active and influence individuals’ decisions making. Those decisions making always include the discrimination about racism, sexism, capitalism and classism. Individuals’ behaviors are articulated by what they perceive and what is stored in their memories, however, with the changes of the environment and with the time flows, those perceptions that storage in people’s mind might be changed. In “The Power of Context”, Malcolm Gladwell depicts that people’s characters are not only related to the cognitive association but also affected by the physical surroundings because things that exist in individual’s residence also

Without any credit, the environment leads people to make choices that shape their lives and thoughts. Even though people might have similar backgrounds it doesn 't mean that they share the same opinions. Everyone carries a different opinion of a stranger in his/her mind depending upon there past encounters with strangers. This is evident in the works of Toni Morrison and James Baldwin.

On the other hand, these cultures and cultural norms can also give advice to people of what is right and what is wrong. In “An Army of Me: One”, Jean Twenge talks about his aspects of having high self-esteem and self-focus. Sometime focus on self-focus more will have direct impacts on people’s abilities and people’s perspectives. Teachers should focus on let students learn more kinds of knowledge instead of making them self-focus on them selves. Moreover, in “The Power of Context”, Gladwell states that the environment influences how people perceive the experiences that they encounter. This is better known as the Broken Window Theory, which is a theory of how the norm-setting signals urban and public disorder. The Broken Window Theory states

For the most part humans are all born in the same fashion, they have opposable thumbs, a pair of hands, a pair of legs, a brain, and a heart. Looks can be deceiving however, not all infants are created equal. Statistically speaking, the overwhelming majority of the seven billion humans on earth will pass away as a member of the same socioeconomic class they began. In fact, society predicates itself on living a better life than their family who came before. Society takes part in a never ending race to further itself on a socioeconomic level from the generation before knowing full well that the majority will not achieve such goal. That in itself is a testament to how difficult the task of altering identity is. Malcolm Gladwell’s Power of Context echoes many of the same progressive principles preached in the early twentieth century, he believes external factors such as the aspects of environment are the greatest determinants of identity. Barbara Fredrickson argues in her book Love 2.0, that change comes from within. Frederickson believes that biochemical alterations of the human body can occur by increasing “loving potential” (119). An increase of such potential has a profoundly positive impact on human health . As nice as it may sound Fredrickson 's theory leaves her readers with far more questions than answers and in fact plays more into the hands of Gladwell’s “power of context”. Fredrickson offers vague descriptions and uses contradictory language in regards to

With Schwalbe's deeper meaning behind experiences and specific situational awareness, the reader can paint a broader picture from being attentive of his surroundings and not generalizing race as a whole. Sowell takes the approach of eliminating the examination of surroundings by pointing out that "no human being should be blamed for the way his culture evolved for centuries before he was born" (Sowell, p. 4). Society must be cognizant of the fact that the only thing permanent in life is death and change. To cope with the constant change in technology, behaviors, personalities, governments & law, relationships and well being, the ability to adapt to these kinds of change is

Meaning, the fights, violence, hatred, and any other negative features that arises society. I agree with a majority of this. I believe strict rules and repression of some very natural feelings creates immense amounts of frustration. People act out with deviance, violence, and hatred. A perfect example, bullying within the communities of young people. Teens and young adults are just on the verge of discovering themselves, but are bombarded everyday by ideals from the media, their parents, and society as a whole that may hinder self-discovery. A young teen that cannot truly be who they want may take this anger out on another member of the society. This can be out of envy, because the bullied individual appears unrestraint by society’s mold. More often than not, the individual is viewed as ‘weaker’ than the bully. Therefore, the individual is easily targeted by a

     Hemingway's "The Killers" illustrates that unexplained violence is an integrated part of society.  To acknowledge the cruelties of life is to come to terms with horrifying events that can not be denied.  A person may lack the maturity to cope with everyday life if they do not realize that evil can exist in any given society.

Distinguishing between right and wrong, good and evil, may be troubling when someone who is superior causes you to believe what you know is wrong is right. It can confuse one and have them believing things that they once believed to be terrible is actually okay. In Frank Darabont’s film, The Shawshank Redemption, throughout time spent as an inmate or an employee of Shawshank prison, the characters all partake in actions that they feel are “okay” even though they are aware that they are wrong. Which relates to the fact that University of Washington student, Joel Schwarz make that violence at home results in childhood bullying. Psychologist, Philip Zimbardo, explores the idea of how a situation one is put in affects their person and actions. While writer, Doris Lessing, examines how people abandon their morals and common sense and partake in actions due to group pressure. Psychologist, Lawrence Kohlberg, explains that people act based on their moral values. Through understanding both of their perspectives, is realizing the answer to the question of: why do people feel that doing wrong is right?