In 'The Crowd,' Gustave Le Bon delves into the psychology of the masses, revealing how individuals lose their rationality when surrounded by a group. He explores the mechanisms of crowd behavior, illustrating how thoughts and emotions can be transformed by collective influence. The book uncovers the alarming power of suggestion and its implications for social movements and revolutions. Le Bon's insights offer a fresh perspective on the dynamics of human interaction in societal contexts. Can we truly understand the crowd, or are we forever at its mercy?
By Gustave Le Bon
Published: 2017
""In the crowd, the individual is engulfed, and the collective mind emerges, where thoughts are transformed into impulses, guided by the emotions that bind us all.""
The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind is a book authored by Gustave Le Bon that was first published in 1895.In the book, Le Bon claims that there are several characteristics of crowd psychology: "impulsiveness, irritability, incapacity to reason, the absence of judgement of the critical spirit, the exaggeration of sentiments, and others...". Le Bon claimed "that an individual immersed for some length of time in a crowd soon finds himself - either in consequence of magnetic influence given out by the crowd or from some other cause of which we are ignorant - in a special state, which much resembles the state of fascination in which the hypnotized individual finds himself in the hands of the hypnotizer."
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“"In the crowd, the individual is engulfed, and the collective mind emerges, where thoughts are transformed into impulses, guided by the emotions that bind us all."”
The Crowd
By Gustave Le Bon
Discover a world of knowledge through our extensive collection of book summaries.
Gustave Le Bon (1841-1931) was a French social psychologist, sociologist, and author, best known for his pioneering work in the field of crowd psychology. His most notable works include "The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind" (1895), which explores the influence of collective behavior on individual psychology, and "The Evolution of Matter" (1903), in which he discusses the underlying principles of science and philosophy. Le Bon's writing style is characterized by its clarity and accessibility, making complex psychological concepts understandable to a wide audience. His insights into group dynamics and social influence have had a lasting impact on both psychology and sociology.
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