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The Tipping Point By Malcolm Gladwell Summary

Decent Essays

Malcom Gladwell theorizes in his book The Tipping Point that by altering trivial details, a revolution may be achieved (155). Significantly in his chapter titled “The Power of Context,” Gladwell mentions how David Gunn transforms the subway system by sending indirect messages to kids vandalizing the cars with graffiti. He does this by allowing them to finish their “mural” and then painting over it. By doing this, Dunn exemplifies the idea that by focusing on the small details of reparation, everything around it will repair, also known as the Broken Windows Theory. The “Broken Windows Theory and the Power of Context are one and the same, They are both based on the premise that an epidemic can be reversed, can be tipped, by tinkering the smallest details of the immediate environment” (155). …show more content…

He also says that things people conform since they see that things are already damaged and destroyed, their instinct is adding to it. He portrays a point that humans all follow each other to explain why the Broken Windows Theory is true, however if all humans followed each other, there would not be so many breakthroughs throughout history that have changed the world today. For example, Rosa Parks could have obeyed the Caucasians when they asked her to sit at the back of the bus, since that is what all the other African-Americans did, however by refusing, she created a change, a revolution. The Broken Windows Theory is not always true. Rosa Parks serves as an example as someone who did not conform. Although a change with the subway system occurred with Dunn’s rebuilding and planning supported Gladwell’s theory, there is still situations that do not fit with Gladwell’s overall ideas from “The Power of

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