{"id":24791,"date":"2019-11-07T20:15:11","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T04:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=24791"},"modified":"2019-11-07T20:15:11","modified_gmt":"2019-11-08T04:15:11","slug":"what-to-make-of-the-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/what-to-make-of-the-four\/","title":{"rendered":"What to make of The Four?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scott Galloway, Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business\u2019s,\u00a0argues in his book, The Four: the hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google, <\/em>that \u2018The Four\u2019 have amassed abundant influence upon our lifestyles to enable our dependency upon them while dominating their growing share of the consumer market. While \u2018The Four\u201d have improved our lives in many ways, they act as if \u2018they were guided by an idolatry of money.\u2019 The Four have strongly influenced public decisions in their favor to avoid paying taxes, hiring very few employees, and finding ways to escape any significant public control. Galloway\u2019s perspective as a successful entrepreneur in the digital era makes his arguments bold (salted with hip profanity) and convincing but also betrays him as well. The author\u2019s vision of the world seems to be built upon the American business model as its epicenter. While he does question big business\u2019 priorities and practices, he does not seem to bother much with the economic system itself and its inherent systemic structural failures. Currently, business practices consistently put profits above people. Perhaps, this is why Galloway concludes his book by alluding to how \u2018The Four\u201d gives insight into our digital age and greater capacity to build the reader\u2019s economic security.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

The Four <\/em>is a book I found most interesting and read far more than I originally intended. \u00a0However, I could not tell if Galloway was warning the reader of their influence and practices or was more enthralled with their unprecedented growth and market share metrics (after all, he is a marketing professor). Therefore, I tend to agree with the reviewer of this source and thought Galloway gave off mixed and at times, confusing signals to his readers. Galloway pronounces that his intent for the book was to help his students and readers \u201cto gain insight and a competitive edge.\u201d He contends that in the current economy of 2017, it has never been easier to become a billionaire, while never harder to become a millionaire. What does that statement even mean? This book left me feeling very conflicted.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

I feel conflicted because I am not sure what to do with what I have gleaned from The Four<\/em>. I found Chapter 7 \u201cBusiness and the Body\u201d most insightful in how successful businesses appeal to one of three areas of the body.[3]<\/a> Most insightful for me was how Facebook connects with our hearts and enables us to utilize Facebook tools to enhance our connection with others.[4]<\/a> This new insight helps to explain how irrational, and often unpleasant behavior is expressed on Facebook by otherwise (at least within the circle of people I know personally) thoughtful and caring Christians allegedly. All the more reason for me to leave Facebook once I have completed my Portland Seminary studies. These successful business connections have me thinking about the local church. That is, how and should it appeal or connect with the three areas of consumers\u2019 \u201cbodies?\u201d Wow, I think I just answered my question!<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Filipe Domingues\u00a0(2018)\u00a0Four companies owning the future,\u00a0Church, Communication and Culture,\u00a03:1,\u00a083-85,\u00a0DOI:\u00a010.1080\/23753234.2018.1429222<\/a><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Scott Galloway, The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google<\/em> (New York, NY: Portfolio\/Penguin, 2017), 12.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Scott Galloway, The Four<\/em>, 169.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Scott Galloway, The Four<\/em>, 177.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scott Galloway, Professor of Marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business\u2019s,\u00a0argues in his book, The Four: the hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google, that \u2018The Four\u2019 have amassed abundant influence upon our lifestyles to enable our dependency upon them while dominating their growing share of the consumer market. While \u2018The Four\u201d have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1321,1411,1409],"class_list":["post-24791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp9","tag-scott-galloway","tag-the-four","cohort-lgp9"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24791"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24792,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24791\/revisions\/24792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}