The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind

"The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind" is a foundational work in crowd psychology. In 1895, French social psychologist Gustave Le Bon proposed the "Law of Mental Unity of Crowds": when individuals integrate into a crowd, they lose their independent judgment and form a "psychological crowd" with unified emotions and behavioral patterns. This phenomenon shattered the Enlightenment myth that "the wisdom of the crowd is inherently superior to that of the individual."

Le Bon drew extensively from various sources and his observations of society at the time, analyzing crowd psychology from three angles: the psychology of crowds, the opinions and beliefs of crowds, and the classification and characteristics of different crowds. He revealed properties such as the irrational dominance of crowds, extreme emotionality, manipulation by crowd leaders, and the religious nature of crowds, and foresaw the potentially destructive impact these properties could have on society. His insights proved historically prophetic, becoming a classic framework for later analyses of populism and online mob violence.