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In sociology
Sociology

Sociology is a branch of the social sciences that uses systematic methods of Empiricism and critical theory to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social structure and activity, sometimes with the goal of applying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare....
, a tipping point or angle of repose
Angle of repose

The angle of repose is an engineering property of granular materials. The angle of repose is the maximum angle of a stable slope determined by friction, cohesion and the shapes of the particles....
 is the event of a previously rare phenomenon becoming rapidly and dramatically more common. The phrase was coined in its sociological use by Morton Grodzins
Morton Grodzins

Morton M. Grodzins was a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, as well as a Dean of the school and an editor at Chicago University Press....
, by analogy with the fact in physics
Physics

Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and spacetime and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its Motion ....
 that adding a small amount of weight to a balanced object can cause it to suddenly and completely topple.

Grodzins studied integrating American neighborhoods in the early 1960s. He discovered that most of the white families remained in the neighborhood as long as the comparative number of black families remained very small.






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In sociology
Sociology

Sociology is a branch of the social sciences that uses systematic methods of Empiricism and critical theory to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social structure and activity, sometimes with the goal of applying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare....
, a tipping point or angle of repose
Angle of repose

The angle of repose is an engineering property of granular materials. The angle of repose is the maximum angle of a stable slope determined by friction, cohesion and the shapes of the particles....
 is the event of a previously rare phenomenon becoming rapidly and dramatically more common. The phrase was coined in its sociological use by Morton Grodzins
Morton Grodzins

Morton M. Grodzins was a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, as well as a Dean of the school and an editor at Chicago University Press....
, by analogy with the fact in physics
Physics

Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and spacetime and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its Motion ....
 that adding a small amount of weight to a balanced object can cause it to suddenly and completely topple.

Grodzins studied integrating American neighborhoods in the early 1960s. He discovered that most of the white families remained in the neighborhood as long as the comparative number of black families remained very small. But, at a certain point, when "one too many" black families arrived, the remaining white families would move out en masse in a process known as white flight
White flight

White flight is a term for the demographics trend in which working class and middle-class white people move away from suburbs or urban area neighborhoods that are becoming racially desegregation to white suburbs and Commuter town....
. He called that moment the "tipping point". The idea was expanded and built upon by Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize , established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize in Literature, and Nobel Peace Prize in 1901....
-winner Thomas Schelling
Thomas Schelling

Thomas Crombie Schelling is an American economist and professor of foreign affairs, national security, nuclear strategy, and arms control at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy at University of Maryland, College Park....
 in 1972. A similar idea underlies Mark Granovetter
Mark Granovetter

Mark Granovetter is an United States sociologist who has created some of the most influential theories in modern sociology since the 1970s. He is best known for his work in social network theory and in economic sociology, particularly his theory on the spread of information in social networks known as "The Strength of Weak Ties" ....
's threshold model of collective behavior.

Other uses

The phrase has extended beyond its original meaning and been applied to any process in which, beyond a certain point, the rate at which the process proceeds increases dramatically. It has been applied in many fields, from economics
Economics

File:Ballard Farmers' Market - vegetables.jpgEconomics is the Social sciences that studies the Production theory basics, Distribution , and Consumption of Good and Service ....
 to human ecology
Human ecology

Human ecology is an List of academic disciplines that deals with the relationship between humans, human societies, and their natural, social and created environments....
 to epidemiology
Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting the health and illness of populations, and serves as the foundation and logic of interventions made in the interest of public health and preventive medicine....
. It can also be compared to phase transition
Phase transition

In thermodynamics, a phase transition is the transformation of a thermodynamic system from one phase to another.At phase-transition point, physical properties may undergo abrupt change- for instance, volume of the two phases may be vastly different....
 in physics
Physics

Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and spacetime and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its Motion ....
 or the propagation of populations in an unbalanced ecosystem
Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical factors of the environment....
.

Mathematically
Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, change, and related topics of pattern and form. Mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, natural science, computers, imaginary abstractions, or elsewhere....
, the angle of repose may be seen as an inflection point
Inflection point

In differential calculus, an inflection point, or point of inflection is a point on a curve at which the curvature changes Negative and non-negative numbers....
. In control theory
Control theory

Control theory is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering and mathematics, that deals with the behavior of dynamical systems. The desired output of a system is called the reference....
, the concept of positive feedback
Positive feedback

Positive feedback, sometimes referred to as "cumulative causation", is a feedback loop system in which the system responds to Perturbation of biological system in the same direction as the perturbation....
 describes the same phenomenon, with the problem of balancing an inverted pendulum
Inverted pendulum

An inverted pendulum is a pendulum which has its mass above its pivot point. It is often implemented with the pivot point mounted on a cart that can move horizontally and may be called a cart and pole....
 being the classic embodiment. The concept has also been applied to the popular acceptance of new technologies, for example being used to explain the success of VHS
VHS

The Video Home System, better known by its abbreviation VHS, is a recording and playing standard developed by JVC and launched in Europe and Asia in September 1976, and the United States in June 1977....
 over Betamax
Betamax

Betamax is an obsolete home videocassette tape recording format developed by Sony, and released on May 10, 1975. The cassettes contained 1/2 inch wide videotape in a design similar to the earlier, professional 3/4 inch U-matic videocassette format....
.

In popular culture

The term was popularized in application to daily life by Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell is a British-born Canadian journalist, author, and pop sociologist, based in New York City. He has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996....
's 2000 bestselling book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.

See also

  • Catastrophe theory
    Catastrophe theory

    In mathematics, catastrophe theory is a branch of bifurcation theory in the study of dynamical systems; it is also a particular special case of more general singularity theory in geometry....
  • Critical mass
    Critical Mass

    Critical Mass is a bicycling event typically held on the last Friday of every month in over 300 city around the world. While the ride was originally founded in 1992 with the idea of drawing attention to how unfriendly the city was to bicyclists, the leaderless structure of Critical Mass makes it impossible to assign it any one specific goal...
  • Domino effect
    Domino effect

    The domino effect is a chain reaction that occurs when a small change causes a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on in linear sequence....
  • Emergence
    Emergence

    In philosophy, systems theory and science, emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a Multiplicity of relatively simple interactions....
  • Hundredth Monkey Effect
  • Network effect
    Network effect

    In economics and business, a network effect is the effect that one user of a good or Service has on the value of that product to other people....
  • Saddle-node bifurcation
    Saddle-node bifurcation

    In the mathematics area of bifurcation theory a saddle-node bifurcation or tangential bifurcation is a local bifurcation in which two fixed points of a dynamical system collide and annihilate each other....


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