Broken Windows Theory Analysis

Behavior is often said to be associated with a person’s character. Character is defined as the way someone think, feel and behave. Character is also the set of qualities that are shared by many people in a group and those set of qualities is what sets the group apart from anther group. Gladwell uses fundamental traits such as attitude to explain how humans adapt to various circumstances and environment. According to Gladwell, character is not a “stable, easily identifiable set of closely related traits but is rather more like a bundle of habits and tendencies and interests, loosely bound together and dependent, at certain times, on circumstance and context” (Gladwell 160). In other words, the context, environment and circumstance evokes the
For example, a person walking down the street eating food and throwing away their trash on the street instead of a garbage can. Gladwell states that people who walk by this piece of trash will conclude that no one cares and no is in charge. This concept is known as the broken windows theory. The broken windows theory proves that children and teenagers are shaped and influenced largely by the environment they live in. Certain features also plays a huge role influence on who we are and what we do (152). However, Faludi suggests that one’s habit is influenced by their social heritage. She felt that most men “defend their inner humanity with an outer brutality” (Faludi 282). Most men feel as if there is a greater need to conceal their emotional state in order to avoid any ridicule against them. History has shown that men were always playing the dominate roles like being the breadwinner. Female were always portrayed as the stay at home mom that cooks and clean. Because men are always playing the dominant role, they feel entitled to inflict pain and harm onto women when they do not listen or behave. Did tradition and years of history lead men to think they are entitle to beat on women and mistreat them or is it simply just a bad habit learned from other men? According to Faludi, it is simply bad habits. Even without women being presence at the Citadel,
The context is so powerful that many people’s behavior, like the cadets, are more susceptible to being influenced by it rather than inner thoughts. While one’s inner personalities are fundamental of their behavior, those certain behavior does not result from certain situations. If one is an absolute good person without deviant thoughts, he or she would never take out a gun and shoot another human or even think about hazing. Thus the growth and living environment are real causes that build people’s characteristics, which can lead to certain