FREE THE CROWD: A STUDY OF THE POPULAR MIND PDF Gustave LeBon | 100 pages | 30 Jan 2008 | Digireads.com | 9781420931730 | English | United States The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind - Wikipedia Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. As the disclaimer on the title page notes, the ideas in Le Bon's book were popular at the time of the late 19th century but are no longer in vogue today. The reasons for this are obvious, as LeBon unpretentiously puts to fault The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind by French social theorist Gustave Le Bon is a short treatise on the principles of large gatherings of people. The The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind for this are obvious, as LeBon unpretentiously puts to fault all the rhetoric about "democracy," "equality," "fraternity," and "equality" The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind being mere catchphrases that self-serving demagogues use to control the spirit of the masses. He cites the French Revolution and the demands of Socialism and Communism during his time. Le Bon outlines the way crowds tend to think in vivid images illogically connectedhow they reason they don't for all practical purposeshow they express exaggerated emotion, how they are very quick to take action without coherent thought and of the general extreme-conservatism and intolerance of crowds. The individual who becomes part of a crowd tends to loose himself, and feels invincible as he is aware of the similarity of mind and purpose of all those surrounding him. Le Bon notes how individuals become unthinking entities of the Herd, and can be unconsciously made to do acts, which can either be of great criminality or heroism. The reasoning of the solitary individual is superior to that of a crowd which has no individuality. All are "equal" in a crowd where, for instance, a mathematician is caught up in the same spirit as a laborer and class and intelligence differences fall to the lowest common denominator. One advantage of crowds is that they can express the spirit of a class, caste, or race of a people The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind than the individual can, and that crowds are capable of great deeds such as victory in a war or the spread of a religion that would be beyond simply one person's effort. Hitler, Mussolini in addition to Freud were familiar with LeBon's work, and it is readily apparent that their followers acted very similar to the behavior that LeBon describes. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. More Details Original Title. Other Editions Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Crowdplease sign up. All of his books and most of the reviews are Arabic, instead of the universal language English like usually even though he is French. This is making me curious The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind this book is really famous in any Arabic-speaking countries? As an observation or a remark that you can skip, the word "instead of" you used slightly offended me as an Arab. Have a nice day! See all 5 questions about The Crowd…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Dec 24, Mario the lone bookwolf rated it really liked it Shelves: 0-social-criticism. ENGLISH Forever highly dangerous instructions for the instrumentalization and manipulation of humans As current as the problem is, so narrow-minded appear some of the author's remarks, which allows his subjective opinion to flow slowly into various passages, which is an unforgivable mistake for serious non-fiction. The mediated concept of history should be treated with caution since aspects such as the dynamics of the rise and fall of high cultures are indeed correctly explained. However, other f ENGLISH Forever highly dangerous instructions for the instrumentalization and manipulation of humans As current as the problem is, so narrow-minded appear some of the author's remarks, which allows his subjective opinion to flow slowly into various passages, which is an unforgivable mistake for serious non-fiction. However, other factors, such as the reduction to the sometimes exaggerated powerful influence of the population on the development of the state, are ignored. This tendency to bring all the factors described into harmony with his concept runs through the book and also reveals a, for the time, very talented self-marketing, which hints at his other works. Moreover, the impact on jurisdiction, electoral behavior and parliamentary assemblies resulting from mentioned points. Psychological factors are unbalanced, focusing heavily on the subconscious and others, until now mostly unexplored areas of neurology, so that the resulting conclusions about the underlying thought patterns are guesswork. Sometimes, real points of criticism, such as the fact that the education system only functions as a significant funnel through dull repetition, without providing any applicable knowledge, are disqualified by presenting the schools as breeding grounds for radicals, anarchists and subversive elements. The conservative and elitist worldview also manifests The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind in contempt for ordinary people and a demeaning for democracy and socialism, which are in stark contradiction to the other, far-reaching findings of the book. Add to this racism, sexism, statements such as "a rule of the mob would have prevented civilization" and a disturbing state of mind, even for the transition from the 19th to the 20th century. Above all, because numerous examples of other authors of the same era or also of antiquity show how a severe scholarly work without such polemics is entirely possible without The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind the reader with their thoughts, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind one perseveres through a crash course in sedition. It is indeed frightening how often in this work, 38 years before the seizure of power by the Nazis, there is the talk of the leaders of the masses and what implications for the scope of the work permits, since some of the described mechanisms are successfully used in practice to this day. Not surprisingly, in the lastyears, humans have hardly developed physiologically. If this work had been characterized with more consideration for objectivity and more of Enlightenment and thought-unconstrained thoughts, its fatal effects would have been substantially reduced, if not made more constructive. The knowledge of the mechanisms of action could also be used for particular concerns, instead of always serving only the instrumentalization of selfish motives. So it remains a frightening multiplication table of manipulation and control on sinister grounds and the sobering realization that individuals, relatively limited in their capabilities, are forming states like insects, guided in their performance by the collective intelligence. In humans the average of all the estimates of a group on a given topic is often more astoundingly and inexplicably close to the right value. However, many other decisions are determined by a much more questionable factor, which increases dramatically with the number of individuals involved. The swarm stupidity. Wen wundert es, hat sich der Mensch in den letzten View all 4 comments. For some reason, this book seems to be quite popular in the Middle East as the go-to source when one wants to learn about the psychology of crowds; however, I found very little science and plenty of the author's personal opinions and observations -which have not been systematically studied nor confirmed- with a dash of racism, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, and elitism on the side I guess that should be expected, given that The Crowd is quite out-dated. That it is not to say that it is completely worthless; it's not For some reason, this book seems to be quite popular in the Middle East as the go-to source when one wants to learn about the psychology of crowds; however, I found very little science and plenty of the author's personal opinions and observations -which have not been systematically studied nor confirmed- with a dash of racism, sexism, and elitism on the side I guess that should be expected, given that The Crowd is quite out-dated. That it is not to say that it is completely worthless; it's not. First of all, Le Bon's writing is engaging, and several passages struck me as beautifully written and eloquent. And there are arguments and assertions that I think are likely to be true, such as people being impressed more with prestige and exaggerated, passionate statements rather than with rational arguments. On a funny note, Le Bon maintains that mental illness, or "madness" is catching, so you might want to cross-reference what you read. If I were to sum up my thoughts on this, I would say read it for the insightful observations that it offers, but not as a credible source with regards to the psychology of crowds. Scientifically robust and updated works should be sought instead. Sep 21, Vilena rated it it was amazing Shelves: favoritespsychologywork-dat- tongue. Extremely shrewd, ahead of its time, and simply brilliant. An unarguable classic in the field of crowd psychology - and for a good reason. Translator not named; with an introduction by Robert A. Nye my thesis advisor.