Gustave le bon quotes

Gustave Le Bon — disparaged the Revolution and the revolutionary legacy because he distrusted the common person, particularly when making collective decisions.

Gustave le bon crowd theory

His analysis of revolutionary crowds pictured them as primitive animals devoid of good decision—making abilities who had to be reigned in by a "strong man" or dictatorial figure. This source is a part of the Legacies of the Revolution source collection. Bernard Miall London: T. Fisher Unwin, [] , —5, — Whatever their origin, revolutions do not produce their full effects until they have penetrated the soul of the multitude.

They therefore represent a consequence of the psychology of crowds. Although I have studied collective psychology at length in another volume, I must here recall its principal laws. Man, as part of a multitude, is a very different being from the same man as an isolated individual. His conscious individuality vanishes in the unconscious personality of the crowd.

Material contact is not absolutely necessary to produce in the individual the mentality of the crowd.

Gustave le bon pronunciation

Passions and sentiments, provoked by certain events, are often sufficient to create it. The collective mind, momentarily formed, represents a very special kind of aggregate. Its chief peculiarity is that it is entirely dominated by unconscious elements, and is subject to a peculiar collective logic. Among the other characteristics of crowds, we must note their infinite credulity and exaggerated sensibility, their shortsightedness, and their incapacity to respond to the influences of reason.

Affirmation, contagion, repetition, and prestige constitute almost the only means of persuading them. Reality and experience have no effect upon them.