Small Change
What determines a movement? Malcolm Gladwell defines what pushes a movement to make a difference. He analyzes the concept of “strong ties” and “weak ties” and how these relationships affect an individual’s willpower and determination to help a cause. Gregory Orr puts these ideas into context in his memoir, “Return to Hayneville”, in which he recounts his experience and involvement in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Malcolm Gladwell’s “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted”, focuses, in particular, on the civil rights movement concentrates to the lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina. Gladwell’s ideas and opinions of social and political emancipations are given a real world setting, as
Orr visited the place that had haunted him as much of the death of his younger brother. Part of the reason Orr felt giddy when he returned to the jailhouse in Hayneville after so many years is because he knew he was “that kid [who] had come south seeking the dark blessing of death in a noble cause…” (Orr, 229). Instead he had found himself and went on to live a fruitful life,. The relationship Orr shared with the civil rights movement was a different one he essentially took what he needed from his experience fighting for the cause and left it unaffected. Orwell’s description of strong ties and weak ties doesn't even include Orr, because Orr did not join the cause for the sake of the movement, rather he took on a quest for enlightenment, and in the end found himself.
Gladwell’s ideas on how a centrally organized movement is key to any successful organization is given context with Orr’s experiences. Gladwell analyzes the difference between networks and organizations, “Unlike hierarchies, with their rules and procedures, networks aren't controlled by a single central authority… the ties that bind people to the [network]... are loose” (Gladwell, 139). Orr’s experience does not leave him as an activist rather he is seen as an individual who took upon this journey for self-enrichment. thus he does not fall into the spectrum