Riassunto
Trama e riassunto di La psicologia delle folle
A chi è rivolto
For readers curious about politics, propaganda, advertising and group behavior, and anyone who wants to see where modern ideas about crowds began.
Che cos’è questo libro
What happens to a sensible person when she joins a crowd? Gustave Le Bon, a French physician and social thinker, set out to answer that in 1895 in The Crowd. He wrote after the French Revolution, the Paris Commune and the rise of mass politics. His claim is bold. A crowd is a new kind of mind, more emotional, more easily led and less able to reason than any one of its people. He builds his case from history, juries, parliaments and leaders. Many readers still use his ideas to read politics, advertising and the news, while others find him harsh.
In questo riassunto
- 1The age of crowds has begunFree
- 2In a crowd, the individual sinks
- 3Crowds feel in extremes
- 4Crowds think in images, not arguments
- 5Crowd conviction takes a religious form
- 6Words, illusions and leaders move crowds
- 7Types of crowds, and how the book has fared
Punto chiave 1 di 7
The age of crowds has begun
Le Bon opens with a claim about his own time. The old religious, political and social beliefs that held nations together are wearing away, and nothing firm has replaced them. Into that gap steps the crowd, which he sees as the one force growing in strength.
He says rulers must now watch the mood of the street and the press. He does not claim to like this change. He calls himself a student of facts and thinks great civilizations were built by small educated elites, while crowds hasten their end.
His idea of the crowd is wide. It covers a mob, a jury, a parliament or a whole nation under one passion. That breadth makes his argument both useful and open to dispute.
That’s 1 of 7 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 55,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 3 h 40 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about La psicologia delle folle
What is The Crowd by Gustave Le Bon about?
It is a study of how people behave in groups. Le Bon argues that individuals in a crowd lose personal judgment and become emotional, suggestible and easily led, and he explains how leaders use images, slogans and repetition to move them.
When was The Crowd written and is it still relevant?
Le Bon published it in French in 1895. Its ideas on propaganda, slogans and leadership are still discussed, though modern research has challenged many of his claims and rejects his racial theories.
What is the main message of The Crowd?
The main message is that crowds follow feeling, images and strong leaders more than reason. Le Bon says people who gather in large numbers act differently from how they would alone, and that this shapes politics.
What does Le Bon mean by crowd contagion?
Contagion is his term for the way feelings, beliefs and acts spread quickly through a group, as a disease spreads. He thinks it makes people copy others without thinking and drop their own judgment.
Is The Crowd hard to read?
No. It is clearly organized into three books, and written in plain, forceful prose.