Gladwell And Nathan Analysis

Furthermore, built on weak ties, strong ties bond students from different backgrounds together. Nathan uses Greek organizations as an example and explores the effects that strong ties bring about. She states, “They are only illustrative of what one university president saw as ‘a great deal of ‘orbital energy’ among the many subgroups, a magnetism that tugs at these groups, pulling them away from any common agenda’”(Nathan 318). Greek life is merely an illustration of how strong-tie subgroups isolate students and cut them off from other groups. The phrase “common agenda” refers to “the mainstream life of the university”(Nathan 318), and the word “magnetism” means the repulsive forces between different groups. Nathan makes an analogy between the movement of the planets and the function of …show more content…
He writes that “And the primary determinant of who showed up was ‘critical friends’—the more friends you had who were critical of the regime the more likely you were to join the protest”(Gladwell 234). People tend to join the protest against the government if most of their friends are critical of the regime. The number of “critical friends” determines the possibility of joining the protest and affects the process of making a political decision. Both Gladwell and Nathan look into the influences of strong-tie groups. Nathan’s analogy between the movement of planets and the Greek groups needs to be revised. She asserts that strong-tie groups may remove students from the mainstream life of the university; however, she neglects the fact that not all of the students are constrained in one group or one “planet” as she describes. In fact, some of them are the intersections of different groups. Strong-tie groups can bond students together through their “attractive force”. Gladwell’s declaration about personal connection to the activity can be