The Crowd By Gustave Le Bon - Full Text Archive NEW!
The book jacket reprints H.L. Mencken's famous quip that "No one in this world, so far as I know, has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people." But even readers who skip right to the text will know that Surowiecki's thesis is directly at odds with classic concerns about the stupidity of crowds, including those of Charles Mackay, Henry David Thoreau and Gustave Le Bon (who, we learn, "had things exactly backward"). And Surowiecki challenges the contemporary enthusiasm for authoritative experts -- CEOs, money managers, professional sports coaches -- in whom corporate boards, investors and fans entrust their fates. He also defends some unpopular projects, such as open-decision markets where investors can speculate about the state of the Middle East or the location of the next terrorist attack, because they produce and collect potentially useful public opinion.
The Crowd by Gustave le Bon - Full Text Archive
and Little et al may be valid, it is not advisable to accept their arguments without looking at theinsights that can be presented by other sociologists. Realistically, individuals are essentiallysocial human beings who love to feel like they are in the part of the crowd in which they findthemselves into, as opposed feeling the odd one out. Reference PageEncyclopedia Britannica. (May 04, 2020). Gustave Le Bon. The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. Retreived from britannica/biography/Gustave-Le-BonLittle, W., Scaramuzzo, G., Cody-Rydzewski, S., Griffiths, H., Strayer, E., Keirns, N., McGivern, R. (2014). Chapter 21: Social Movements and Social Change -- 1 st Canadian Edition. In Rice University OpenStax. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3. Unported (CC BY 3). Retrieved from my.uopeople/course/view.php?id=Le Bon, G. (1926). The Crowd: A study in popular mind. London: T. Fisher Unwin. Retrieved from web.archive/web/20110216074133/http:/etext.lib.virginia/etcbin/toccer- new2?id=BonCrow&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/ parsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div
As useful as this is for understanding the components of how crowds come together, many sociologists criticize its lack of attention on the large cultural context of the described behaviours, instead focusing on individual actions.
March 11th. - In full conclave to-night, the drawing-room crowded with Judges, Governors, Senators, Generals, Congressmen. They were exalting John C. Calhoun's hospitality. He allowed everybody to stay all night who chose to stop at his house. An ill-mannered person, on one occasion,refused to attend family prayers. Mr. Calhoun said to the servant, "Saddle that man's horse and let him go." From the traveler Calhoun would take no excuse for the "Deity offended." I believe in Mr. Calhoun's hospitality,but not in his family prayers. Mr. Calhoun's piety was ofthe most philosophical type, from all accounts. 1
February 21st. - A crowd collected here last night and there was a serenade. I am like Mrs. Nickleby, who never saw a horse coming full speed but she thought the Cheerybles had sent post-haste to take Nicholas into co-partnership. So I got up and dressed, late as it was. I felt sure England had sought our alliance at last, and we would1. Fort Donelson stood on the Cumberland River about 60 milesnorthwest of Nashville. The Confederate garrison numbered about 18,000 men. General Grant invested the Fort on February 13, 1862, and General Buckner, who commanded it, surrendered on February 16th. The Federal force at the time of the surrender numbered 27,000 men; their loss in killed and wounded being 2,660 men and the Confederateloss about 2,000. Page 132make a Yorktown of it before long. Who was it? Will you ever guess? - Artemus Goodwyn and General Owens,of Florida.
February 20th. - Mrs. Preston was offended by the story of Buck's performance at the Ive's. General Breckinridge told her "it was the most beautifully unconscious act he ever saw." The General was leaning against the wall, Buck standing guard by him "on her two feet." The crowd surged that way, and she held out her arm to protect him from the rush. After they had all passed she handed him his crutches, and they, too, moved slowly away. Mrs. Davis said: "Any woman in Richmond would have done the same joyfully, but few could do it so gracefully. Buck is made so conspicuous by her beauty, whatever she does can not fail to attract attention." 041b061a72