TOW #4: Freakonomics 1st 1/2

In Stephen J. Dubner and Steven B. Levitt's Freakonomics, the central structure is key to the nature of the message they are conveying. With chapter titles that range from the rather pedestrian, such as chapter one, The Hidden Side of Things, to those with more curious titles, such as chapter four, Why do Drug Dealers Still Live With their Moms? 

While the topics discussed in each of these chapters are obviously varied to a great degree, their individual role within constructing Levitt and Dubner's narrative is identical. Each of the topics discussed in Freakonomics six chapters, especially the three I have completed thus far, plays an equally significant role in contributing to the authors' collective purpose. In writing Freakonomics, Dubner and Levitt wish to showcase that within the fabric of the everyday experiences we refer to as "life," there are myriad connections, however distant they may be, between seemingly unrelated concepts. Specifically, this is true within the realm of economics, hence the book's title. It is precisely for this reason that the authors' switch seamlessly from a discussion of the similarities that sumo wrestlers share with elementary school teachers (both are willing to cheat for the sake of those they are teaching,) to a discussion of Ku Klux Klan real estate tactics.

With topics as far-flung and unusual as these, it is fortunate that Dubner and Levitt, both economists by trade, make frequent use of statistical analysis and data modeling to determine the correlations they spot within society. In the case of the cheating teachers in chapter two, Dubner examined State-level standardized test answer sheets from California, and was able to discern over hundreds of students results, where and how often suspicious large blocks of correct answers appeared. Dubner then compared the students with the highest number of correct answers grouped together, and juxtaposed these students scores with their past performance in school subjects. What he determined was that the students with the most blocks of correct answers tended to be those that did poorer in the corresponding classes. From this, Dubner was able to draw a simple conclusion: the teachers of these students recognized that they were struggling more than other students, and went out of their way to help those students do well on State-level mandated testing. Put simply, the teachers were cheating for the benefit of their students. 

This sort of "big data" analysis is seen on numerous occasions throughout the first few chapters of Freakonomics, and it would seem to me that this is the main rhetorical device that the authors use to convey their purpose. 

It can be assumed, based on the low technical level of the authors' writing, that this book was only intended to brief the general public on the novel applications of data analysis, and provide a conversational level of understanding to the reader. In this sense, the book wholly succeeds. This is the case because Freakonomics does a tremendous amount to both interest the reader in novel data analysis, and intrigue the reader with the larger social implications of data analysis. It does this through low-level data analysis of intriguing, unusual examples, in such a way that manages to inform, and entertain the reader. I look forward to the concluding three chapters of Freakonomics.