Critique Of Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell

When society thinks of those higher up, the geniuses, CEOs, lawyers, and physicians of the world, the general thought is that they were born with an abnormally high IQ, or that they’re self made and became a product of only their own hard work. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, however, argues that there’s an underlying “background” of success. Gladwell argues that “there's no such thing as a self-made man and that super achievers are successful because of their circumstances, their families, and their appetite for hard work.” I agree with Gladwell to a very large extent, as when one looks at the presented ideas that success, does indeed, come from community and opportunities, it becomes apparent that the way society looks at success is flawed. …show more content…
Gladwell calls attention to Asians to demonstrate the correlation of culture and success. The stereotype that all Asians are smart is universal, but when looking deeper into why the stereotype exists, one can find how much of success is dictated by culture and community. Historically, labor-intensive wet-rice agriculture has prevailed in East Asia, bringing with it a culture of putting in time and hard-work, and that if you put in work, you will never fail (Gladwell, 238-239). In fact, according to Gladwell, peasants working on rice paddies would often say, “No one who can rise before dawn three hundred sixty days a year fails to make their family rich,” meaning that nobody who puts in hard work will ever not see the benefits of that work (238). But what does that do with math? Aren’t those good at math just those born with genius IQs, or just have it in math? Not exactly. According to Gladwell, “...it’s not so much ability as attitude. You master mathematics if you are willing to try” (246). This means that anybody who tries and puts in time and effort will be the ones good at maths, as opposed to those who give up. If somebody wants to succeed at math and is willing to put in effort, they will. Now, back to Asian culture and the wet-rice farming. If Asian culture carries a legacy placing importance on time and effort, and math requires time and effort, then it makes sense that Asians would typically be good at math, right? This shows that while some might think Asians are just born with higher IQs or larger brains, their ability really just comes from culture (Gladwell, 231). So, culture plays a large role in ability and overall success, and if we examine the culture of these outliers, we may find that their culture played a large part in their