Malcolm Gladwell-Six Degrees of Lois Weinberg - Essay Example

Analysis of a Reading: Malcolm Gladwell-Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg Name Institution Analysis of a Reading: Malcolm Gladwell-Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg is an academic article written by Malcolm Gladwell about Lois Weisberg, the former Chicago Cultural Affairs Commissioner, about her massive contribution to the development of Chicago on the basis of unity amongst different cultures. The author represents the contribution that has been commonly made by journalists and public intellectuals over the discussion about American life. Gladwell’s work employs implications and summaries of arguments that Stanley Milgrim and Mark Granovetter demonstrated in their work back in 1960s and 70s. The famous concept of ‘small-world experiment’ by the two authors has been part of the theoretical framework or baseline of argument that the ‘six degrees of Lois Weisberg’ has adopted, considering the elements of ‘six degrees of separation’ that was once a common catchphrase year ago. Reflecting back on the small-world experiment by Milgram, their epistemology idea of evaluation the concept and practice of connection amongst people demonstrated the unity that exists amongst people through personal connections. The criterion involved sending two information packages to two Midwest cities that were randomly selected. In their study, the author demonstrated that there is certain possibly hidden underlying social connectivity amongst people, upon realising that the one information package that reached the intended destination had various instance of stops. Further, the Gladwell article depicts argument similar to those of Granovetter about the job searching and information acquisition. The author argued that weak ties are preferably essential whilst researching fir new information or ideas that strong ties. Granovette argued that people do not get jobs through friends, but through the acquaintances. These aspects of research and theories have been vastly demonstrated in Gladwell’s article. He argues that people assume strong positions on life with respect to the information they know about the more people that are not close to them. The author argues that certain critical realm in people’s lives defines the most important persons in their lives. This perspective of connection and information implies that week connections result in an interaction between a person and the people that are different than him or her, and have information, as well as people, that the person may not know. According to Gladwell, it is the weak ties between people that open up new opportunities and information sources than the people that we already know more about. To explain and demonstrate how the above theories apply to the way people communicate and relate in the society, Gladwell presents the life of Lois Weisberg that he claims features the embodiment of the concept of connectivity in people’s lives. The article presents how Lois knew how to communicate to people and build strong connections with people that she interacted with. Gladwell argues that people liked Lois because of the role she played in unifying people of different cultures through her roles in the society as a bookseller, youth worker, artist, author, and railroad buffs, amongst many others. It is through these roles that Gladwell argues that Lois linked people of different social worlds. He concludes that equal access to superior education and its resources does or certain cultural environment does not impact equality in people of different background characteristics, but increasing the individuals’ access to acquaintances that are found outside their own social definition does; poverty is isolation, and not a deprivation as people may perceive. This reading relates to diffusion, the issue that was raised in this week’s lecture. Diffusion explains the concept or a theory of how ideas or information spreads through cultures and social settings. The theory of diffusion in communication relates to this article in the manner the author depicts the manner in which people persuade others to adopt and begin using the new ways of acquiring information. Also, the reading relates the concept of diffusion in the manner individual, societal and cultural influences impact the ability and ways through which new ideas are communicated from one person to the other. Gladwell has explored the idea of individual characteristics as an impact to the connectivity between people, which he argues that is a factors contributing towards the ability of a person to acquire new information and the concept of equality in the society. Also, Gladwell mentions about the idea of media and other channels as some of the enabling factors that facilitate interaction and connectivity between people. The journalism and intellectual socialists depend on the mass media channels as a means of creating information and interpersonal channels as a means of forming and changing attitudes towards the idea in question. Therefore, just as Gladwell demonstrates it, interpersonal connectivity in the society influence the theory of information diffusion in manner people make decisions of adopting or rejecting innovations in communication or new ideas, which relates to the idea of influence of propaganda and benefits of transparency to promoting public sphere. The diffusion theory process depicted in the reading entails the knowledge acquisition, persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation of the results. According to the reading, a person must be aware of the sources of information around him or her to be able to acquire the intended. The communication evolution has resulted in relation of people from different social backgrounds as a method of acquiring new ideas; the diffusion of innovation in communication. It is evident that, even though interpersonal relations and characteristics between different social and cultural worlds promote new ideas, diffusion of new ideas are subject to influence of propaganda and transparency issues. Therefore, making inference from the Gladwell’s arguments, the future of media and communication will entail the involvement of people outside the information-seekers’ social worlds; the future of communication and media will explore the unexplored social cultures to be able to source new ideas. My analysis of this reading is that using the known or familiar social world as a source of information does not guarantee new ideas. To acquire new information, one must involve the weak connectivity that characterises the involvement of social and cultural worlds with which he or she is not familiar. I agree with the reading considering the insight from Lois’s life of involvement with other cultures that resulted in new opportunities for her though provision of new ideas. The insights provide evidence that diffusion of innovation as a perspective of evolution of communication is practicable and result in a amore unified society with high levels of connectivity and understanding between individuals. I deem the key concepts of this reading significant since it is through media that the aspect of new ideas or innovation is facilitated. The media creates awareness between people of different cultures and social worlds and impacts equality through improved access to acquaintances. 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