Malcolm Gladwell, the author of best sellers such as Tipping Point and Outliers, has come out with his new book – Revenge of the Tipping Point. His books typically have drawn upon research in social sciences and presented implications of the same in simple and intuitive terms with entertaining prose. The Economist reviews the new book but alongside presents its take on the author, pretty much defending him against critics. The central insight in his first book Tipping Point was that small sociological changes reach a ‘tipping point’ beyond which they make a big difference. This new book takes that argument forward:
“The heart of this book is a delightfully tricky question: if people understand where a tipping point lies, can they avoid it, and at what cost? Opioid prescriptions, for instance, are markedly lower in states with relatively onerous reporting requirements for doctors. Should a state try to engineer its way out of some future addiction crisis by imposing burdensome regulations?
Harvard, Mr Gladwell argues, engages in a more nefarious sort of social engineering: by easing admissions standards for athletes in obscure and sometimes expensive sports such as fencing and sailing, it favours white students. If older and heavier people spread viruses more widely than younger and thinner ones, as research cited by Mr Gladwell suggests they might, should others refuse to sit next to them on a plane during a pandemic? Around 10% of vehicles cause more than half of car-based air pollution; if a roadside test can target them more precisely than standard emissions tests can, should they be taken off the road, even if a large share of them belong to poor people who cannot afford a replacement?
Mr Gladwell, to his credit, declines to tip his hand, inviting readers to consider how they feel about social engineering. But these sorts of questions have a dark edge to them; whereas Mr Gladwell’s first take on “The Tipping Point” was largely wide-eyed and optimistic, this book reflects a more techno-sceptical age.
Two things are near-certain about this book: it will wind up, probably soon, on bestseller lists. His detractors, also soon, will sneer at it. Steven Pinker, a psychologist at Harvard, said in a review in 2009 that “Readers have much to learn from Gladwell the journalist and essayist. But when it comes to Gladwell the social scientist, they should watch out.”
This line of criticism misses the point. Mr Gladwell is not a social scientist, nor does he claim to be. He is a journalist who popularises ideas from social science using what he has called “intellectual adventure stories…Their conclusions,” he concedes, “can seem simplified or idiosyncratic.” But stories are also, to use a Gladwellian phrase, sticky. The 10,000-hour rule is memorable; “work hard” is the forgettable line that every coach, teacher and parent has said a million times over.
His work may be formulaic, but so are spy novels, romantic comedies and pop songs. The secret to his success lies less in what he says than in how he says it. Mr Gladwell is a great storyteller and writes with a contagious sense of curiosity, with each revelation seeming as exciting to him as it is to readers. He may be an entertainer, but there are worse ways of being entertained than being prodded to think differently about the world.”
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