The snowball effect is a figurative description for a number of closely related inaccurate mathematical effects, in which the initially small core of a phenomenon becomes attractive to an increasing number of potential adherents who, after passing several phases of familiarization with the core, become part of it. The emphasis in this case is made at several stages of familiarization with the object and favorable conditions for involving an increasing number of previously uninterested persons in the insider group by making money or other promises, creating various kinds of hidden and explicit incentives. The wave effect of the echo of the nucleus is often combined with the effect of a low base , which favorably distinguishes the snowball phenomenon from other initially large phenomena that cannot grow rapidly due to their initially high base (new-fangled veganism in comparison with traditional meat-eating). For comparison, the butterfly effect does not cause the growth of the phenomenon itself, but the emergence of a chain of relatively independent events, each of which is becoming more epoch-making and large-scale. The snowball effect in finance is called the financial pyramid, although the outer layers of the core are not necessarily indigenous to the inner ones, that is, for example, in addition to the stern and unshakable adherents of vegetarianism, they are adjoined by groups of potential adherents that are medium and weakly interested in a certain phenomenon. The name of the effect comes from the usual analogy, when a small but sticky snowflake can grow into a snowball , absorbing more and more snow surrounding it. Such spiral build-up can make an object dangerous or destructive. In the exact sciences, the figurative expression most closely matches the term geometric progression .
Examples
The effect can be traced in various spheres of human activity, is widely used in journalism to describe the processes of uncontrolled growth of previously insignificant phenomena under circumstances favorable to them (phenomena).
For example, in medieval court proceedings, the unrestricted use of torture led to the fact that there were enough denunciations and testimonies of witnesses to pronounce. The constant brutal torture of the convicts gave rise to the “snowball” effect, in which the accused reported on new supposedly new accomplices with whom they allegedly conjured together, and thus the witch hunt, as well as the number of convicts in witchcraft, grew exponentially. For example, in the tiny city of Salem with hundreds of houses, 185 people were convicted of witchcraft charges in two years of trials [1] .
The snowball effect is used in the computer game Katamari Damacy .
In economics, an example of a snowball is observed when public policy stimulates savings to the detriment of consumption. With a logical increase in interest rates by banks, the state, however, begins to experience problems with paying off obligations that are growing like a snowball to service public debt [2] .
On currency exchanges, the snowball effect can be seen when each sharp fluctuation in the exchange rate provokes a potentially three-fold echo in the form of speculative funds running from open positions, especially at the end of the week [3] .
In linguo-demography, the snowball effect can be observed when a language that is less numerous in terms of number of carriers at the local level, but more attractive for economic and global reasons, attracts a disproportionate number of people who want to learn it, often due to other less attractive or prestigious languages [4] . For example, in 1960, in the community of Saint-Leonard , Montreal , Quebec ( Saint-Léonard ), 55% of the population were francophones , 40% of Italo-Quebec and another 5% of Anglophone . However, by the end of the 1960s, the proportion of Italo-Quebec people who wish to receive an education in English reached 90%. As a result of the massive assimilation of the Italo-Quebec people into the English-speaking environment, the French-speaking majority in the community was threatened. Riots began in the region; police had to intervene.
The snowball effect can also be observed “on the contrary”, when, when the external environment changes, small components disappear one after another, without which even the surviving core of the structure already loses its former aura of significance and prestige, which was observed during the collapse of the USSR , when several republics alternately left [5] .
In statistics
In statistics, based on this effect, a peculiar sampling using the snowball method has developed [6] .
Notes
- ↑ Snowball Effect - Around the World Magazine No. 10, 2004
- ↑ Throughout the 80s, cutting government spending has become one ... - Engineering Encyclopedia XXL
- ↑ https://teknoblog.ru/2015/05/29/39782
- ↑ Les Italo-Montréalais et la question de la langue d'enseignement | Memoires des montréalais
- ↑ Okara: Kushnaryov’s death clears the path to presidency for Tymoshenko »APN - Political News Agency
- ↑ https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/pastel-01020979/document