#16044
Mentioned in 5 episodes

The Crowd, A Study of the Popular Mind

Book • 2005
In this book, Gustave Le Bon examines the psychology of crowds, arguing that when individuals form a crowd, they undergo a profound psychological transformation.

He explains that crowds are characterized by impulsiveness, irritability, and an incapacity to reason, and that individuals within a crowd relinquish their personal identities and become susceptible to suggestion and emotional contagion.

Le Bon discusses how crowds can display either heroic or criminal tendencies based on prevailing ideas and emotions, and emphasizes the role of leaders in simplifying and communicating ideas to the crowd.

The book is divided into sections that analyze the general characteristics of crowds, their sentiments and morality, their ideas and reasoning power, and the classification and description of different kinds of crowds.

Mentioned by

Mentioned in 5 episodes

Mentioned by Laurie Taylor when discussing the historical depiction of crowds as a poisonous influence on society.
17 snips
Crowds
Mentioned by Julia Hava as an early psychological insight into how emotion spreads in groups.
The Economy of Outrage
Mentioned by Sana Kadar when introducing Gustave Le Bon's book about crowd psychology.
Do people really behave differently in a crowd?

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