GARETH VAN ONSELEN: What produces a political tipping point?
'SA has experienced a wide range of political tipping points. President Jacob Zuma’s remarks, for one, seem to epitomise the problem'
There are often moments in politics when a single incident, itself not a crisis per se, seemingly elicits a monumental shift or explosion in public opinion. . What is it that defines these moments and how can they be explained? It is a difficult question to answer definitively. Malcolm Gladwell famously tried to decipher the code with regard to more general social phenomena. He got about as close as anyone has to producing a plausible theory. In his book, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, he identifies several contributing factors to the transition from fad to craze. At the heart of any tipping point, he argues, lie a number of different types of people, influencers, who set the context for an explosion.There are "connectors" (people who boast large social networks and are able to spread ideas and trends); "mavens" (experts who identify and signal new behaviours to society), and "salesmen" (persuaders who are able effectively to advocate any new phenome...
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