The Crowd: A Study Of The Popular Mind By Gustave Le Bon
A Review by David Edwards
https://www.academia.edu/30918804/The_Crowd_A_Study_Of_The_Popular_Mind_By_Gustave_Le_Bon
Gustav Le Bon's key 1895 text on mass psychology has long beencited as an important work in terms of shaping sociology in the earlytwentieth century. His thesis has contributed to studies of the effectsof media on public opinion, and in helping to shape the attitudes ofpublic relations gurus such as Freud's nephew Edward Bernays.
Whilst the Le Bon's study is mostly disparaging of
"psychologicalcrowds"
, and the ease with which they can be apparently motivatedby simplistic images, maxims and concepts, it cannot escape thereaders notice that his observations are largely based ongeneralisations themselves. The lack of empirical data to back up hisassertions, however compelling, leads to the assumption that "
TheCrowd"
is largely a book designed for consumption by the very thingit criticises, the popular masses.Even with this paradox in mind, the book still provides some cohesiveinsight into the psychology of populism and mass appeal, arguably amajor driver of society that is still so very prevalent today. Thedifficulty of attaining empirical data on the unconscious workings oflarge groupings of people is a major factor to bear in mind, and aconsideration to concede to when criticising Le Bon's methodology.
"The substitution of the unconscious actions of crowds for theconscious activity of individuals is one of the principal characteristicsof the present age."