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The crowd

Gustave Le Bon

  • Essays
  • Book language: English
  • 171 pages

The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind is an essayistic work of social psychology by Gustave Le Bon. It examines how individuals think and act differently when gathered in crowds, and how collective behaviour can shape societies and political life. It remains a historical point of reference for thinking about mass psychology and public opinion.

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Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.

Opening of the book

The CRIMINOLOGY SERIES.

1. The Female Offender. By Professor LOMBROSO. Edited, with

Introduction, by W. DOUGLAS MORRISON. 2. Criminal Sociology. By

Professor ENRICO FERRI. 3. Juvenile Offender. By W. DOUGLAS

MORRISON. —— LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN.

THE CROWD A STUDY OF THE POPULAR MIND

BY GUSTAVE LE BON {b. May 7, 1841—d. Dec 13, 1931}

The following work is devoted to an account of the characteristics of crowds.

The whole of the common characteristics with which heredity endows the individuals of a race constitute the genius of the race.

When, however, a certain number of these individuals are gathered together in a crowd for purposes of action, observation proves that, from the mere fact of their being assembled, there result certain new psychological characteristics, which are added to the racial characteristics and differ from them at times to a very considerable degree.

Organised crowds have always played an important part in the life of peoples, but this part has never been of such moment as at present.

The substitution of the unconscious action of crowds for the conscious activity of individuals is one of the principal characteristics of the present age.

I have endeavoured to examine the difficult problem presented by

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Contents

  1. THE CROWD A STUDY OF THE POPULAR MIND
  2. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION THE ERA OF CROWDS
  3. BOOK I THE MIND OF CROWDS
  4. BOOK II THE OPINIONS AND BELIEFS OF CROWDS
  5. BOOK III THE CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF CROWDS
  6. INTRODUCTION. THE ERA OF CROWDS.
  7. BOOK I
  8. CHAPTER III
  9. BOOK II
  10. 2. ILLUSIONS
  11. 4. REASON
  12. CHAPTER III
  13. BOOK III
  14. CHAPTER II
  15. THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG™ LICENSE

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