The Power Of Context Analysis

Malcom Gladwell and Leslie Bell write on different topics which merge to tackle one of the toughest topics on humanity. While Gladwell deals with cultural interactions, Bell concentrates on women affairs, especially their sexuality. Indeed, this author has the firmest belief that ideas can spread out, much like an infectious disease. Gladwell believes that cultural interaction should transcend racial, national, religious etc., barriers. Gladwell is an author of many books, with “The Power of Context: Bernie Goetz and the Rise and fall of New York City Crime”, giving an examination of how human characters can be changed using the idea of “contagiousness” of human behaviors. In his book, “The Power of Context”, the author details how the good

However, the set standards of a society help in creating similar characters in people who live in the same environment. This can result in good or bad things for a society. Gladwell notes that “crime is the inevitable result of disorder. Indeed, the problem of crime was just a manifestation of the underlying deeper problems of the New York City” (page 149). This brings us to the correct conclusion that nothing happens without environmental factors contributing to it, either directly or indirectly. And the biggest component of the environment are the people living in it. In the case of Gladwell’s “The Power of Context”, the crime rate in New York was spiraling out of control because people tolerated it. In fact, the criminals saw no reason to stop as they got away with almost every criminal action that they engaged in. Broken Window Theory, which states that if there is a broken window and the breakers go scot free, then others would be encouraged to break windows too. This is how so many youngsters ended up as criminals in New York City, making the public to be always edgy and ready to flee. In Leslie Bell’s “Hard To Get: Twenty-Something Women and the Paradox of Sexual Freedom”, the author describes how women a lot of women fear expressing their sexuality openly for fear of being labelled names in the male-dominated society. This is a result of the same environmental limitations that prevented New Yorkers from speaking out against the crimes, making many people to think that it was the “new normal”. Leslie Bell notes that “young women hear advice across the self-help spectrum which admonishes them to pretend to be independent to get into a not-so-serious relationship in their twenties, but expects them to be engaged and ready to be married by 30 years (page 31).” This one way through which the environment manipulates women’s