the tipping point U.2 L.1

  • tipping point : the point where a series of small changes or incidents become significant enough to cause a larger more important change

  • the name given to that one dramatic moment in an “epidemic” when everything can change all at once

  • also called the moment of critical mass, the threshold or the boiling point

  • epidemic : (plague, outbreak, etc..) think of contagious behaviour, for example, fashion trends, ebb and flow of crime waves, the transformation of unknown books into best sellers, the phenomena of word of mouth, yawning

  • the industrial revolution (late 1700s-1800s)

shift from agrarian to industrial societies

once factory production and mechaniziation reached critical mass, societies urbanized rapidly

family structures, work patterns and class systems changed permanently

why : small technological advances accumulated which caused sudden mass urbanization and wage labour

  • mass public education (19th century)

mandatory schooling laws

literacy became widespread rather than elitist, political participation and social mobility increased

why : education shifted from privilege to expectation

  • civil rights movements (1950s-1960s)

legal and social equality movements gained mass support, segregation laws overturned, social norms around race change rapidly

why : civil rights act (1964) and canadian human rights legislation (1977)

  • other movements : women’s suffrage movement (early 1900s), decline in infant mortality (late 19-20th centuries), post ww2 baby boom (1945-1965), legalization of birth control (mid 20th century), urbanization in the 19-20th centuries, expansion of welfare states (1930s-1960s) - tommy douglas

  • video notes :

  • ebola epidemic in africa : WHO called the situation dire and a crisis, the health workers were contracting diseases, difficult to catch in a western society, but runs rapid in africa, local systems are not in control of the epidemic, must break the chain of transmission, the health systems are broken down and people lack help for any health issues (diherra, malaria), both countries are at a tipping point, political emergency

  • tipping point can be reversed : this occurred in 2016 and was reversed due to effective interventions (isolating & safe burials)