In the article, Small Change, by Malcom Gladwell a New York Times writer, he shows his readers how much social activism has changed over the years along with the quality of results it yields.
“Fifty years after one of the most extraordinary episodes of social upheaval in American history, we seem to have forgotten what activism is.” (Gladwell 2) He focuses on how the world has changed in its way of how exactly social reform is achieved as well as what constitutes as substantive social reform. He thoroughly explains that in the past movements they were created from strong tie connections with friends, family, and overall community. Nowadays however, he exemplifies how most of these connections are weaker especially with friends and the community. …show more content…
He shows how during the civil rights movement most of the ties one might have had with people were strong ties but today, “the platforms of social media are built around weak ties.” (Gladwell 4) Strong ties lie only with those who have strong connections with and that would sacrifice something whereas weak ties are the ones found in social media that might not do much more for a cause than like/share a photo. A majority of the article is based on this ideology of weak and strong ties. He includes this in the conclusion that small ties will only bear small results whereas strong ties will, and have, yielded strong outcomes.
Does an act meant to raise awareness of a specific issue performed by hundreds, thousands, or even millions of individuals really make the difference in the issue at hand? In this modern day a new fad has surfaced named “The Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS,” with the intent to raise awareness of the disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, otherwise known as "Lou Gehrig 's Disease." The Ice Bucket Challenge has indeed gained a vast amount of popularity across the world but is it actually making a difference for those with the Lou Gehrig’s
“Fifty years after one of the most extraordinary episodes of social upheaval in American history, we seem to have forgotten what activism is.” (Gladwell 2) He focuses on how the world has changed in its way of how exactly social reform is achieved as well as what constitutes as substantive social reform. He thoroughly explains that in the past movements they were created from strong tie connections with friends, family, and overall community. Nowadays however, he exemplifies how most of these connections are weaker especially with friends and the community. …show more content…
He shows how during the civil rights movement most of the ties one might have had with people were strong ties but today, “the platforms of social media are built around weak ties.” (Gladwell 4) Strong ties lie only with those who have strong connections with and that would sacrifice something whereas weak ties are the ones found in social media that might not do much more for a cause than like/share a photo. A majority of the article is based on this ideology of weak and strong ties. He includes this in the conclusion that small ties will only bear small results whereas strong ties will, and have, yielded strong outcomes.
Does an act meant to raise awareness of a specific issue performed by hundreds, thousands, or even millions of individuals really make the difference in the issue at hand? In this modern day a new fad has surfaced named “The Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS,” with the intent to raise awareness of the disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, otherwise known as "Lou Gehrig 's Disease." The Ice Bucket Challenge has indeed gained a vast amount of popularity across the world but is it actually making a difference for those with the Lou Gehrig’s