The crowd
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The crowd
Transaction Pub., c1995
- : pbk.
- Other Title
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Psychologie des foules
- Uniform Title
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Psychologie des foules
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Note
Includes bibliographical references
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Gustav Le Bon's The Crowd is not only a classic, but one of the best-selling scientific books in social psychology and collective behavior ever written. Here, Le Bon analyzes the nature of crowds and their role in political movements. He presents crowd behavior as a problem of science and power, a natural phenomenon with practical implications. Originally published in 1895, Le Bon's was the first to expand the scope of inquiry beyond criminal crowds to include all possible kinds of collective phenomena. Its continuing significance is evident even in the Los Angeles riots of 1992 in which Le Bon's theories were citedin testimony.
Le Bon emphasizes the various areas of modern life where crowd behavior holds sway, particularly political upheavals. He focuses on electoral campaigns, parliaments, juries, labor agitation, and street demonstrations. At the same tune, his treatment of crowds is far from complimentary. He likens crowds to "primitive beings," social formations barkening back to the evolutionary origins of humankind. Le Bon believed that ideas and images spread through a crowd by means of contagion, an automatic process that produces a state of transitory madness in its victims, extinguishing reason and will. Yet he does more than dwell on the pathologies of crowd life; he also writes of the heroism, the generosity, and the sacrifices of crowds, of the indispensable roles they have played in erecting the pillars of modern civilization.
In a new introduction to this edition, Robert Nye presents a broad analytical understanding of the relationship between power and knowledge hi crowd theory. He also discusses the historical circumstances and the various personalities who have shaped our understanding of crowds. Nye emphasizes The Crowd's continuing usefulness to cultural historians, psychologists, sociologists, and political scientists. He also places Le Bon in a rich tradition of European social theory.
Table of Contents
- Introduction to The Transaction Edition
- Author's Preface
- Introduction
- Book I: The Mind of Crowds
- I: General Characteristics of Crowds-Psychological Law of Their Mental Unity
- II: The Sentiments and Morality of Crowds
- III: The Ideas, Reasoning Power, and Imagination of Crowds
- IV: A Religious Shape Assumed by All The Convictions of Crowds
- Book II: The Opinions and Beliefs of Crowds
- I: Remote Factors of The Opinions and Beliefs of Crowds
- II: The Immediate Factors of The Opinions of Crowds
- III: The Leaders of Crowds and Their Means of Persuasion
- IV: Limitations of The Variability of The Beliefs and Opinions of Crowds
- Book III: The Classification and Description of the Different Kinds of Crowds
- I: The Classification of Crowds
- II: Crowds Termed Criminal Crowds
- III: Criminal Juries
- IV: Electoral Crowds
- V: Parliamentary Assemblies
by "Nielsen BookData"