Gustave Le Bon - psychology of peoples and masses. “Psychology of Peoples and Masses” Gustave Le Bon Le Bon psychology of the crowd download fb2

Title: Psychology of Peoples and Masses
Writer: Gustave Le Bon
Year: 1895
Publisher: AST
Age limit: 16+
Volume: 340 pages.
Genres: Social psychology, Classics of psychology, Foreign psychology

About the book “Psychology of Nations and Masses” by Gustave Le Bon

The famous French psychologist Gustave Le Bon is considered the first person who managed to develop the concept of mass society. His book “The Psychology of Nations and Masses” contains reflections on how nations develop and decline, and what influence ideology and great people have on the crowd. This work is considered a reference book for many heads of powers and persons who influenced the course of history, since it describes crowd behavior patterns and methods by which people can be influenced and controlled. Today, anyone can familiarize themselves with the sociologist’s research and gain important information for themselves.

Gustave Le Bon brilliantly characterizes the different races. He points out the strengths and weaknesses of many peoples, and we are talking about psychological characteristics. The author manages to explain in a very accessible form that the government and laws do not influence the destinies of nations, but quite the opposite - the character of a nation influences all these things. The narration in the work “Psychology of Nations and Masses” is conducted in a very unemotional style; Gustave Le Bon is rational and does not engage in hyperbolism. He set himself the goal of debunking all those misconceptions that the people so sacredly believe in. We are talking about the role of history in the life of a nation, about childhood innocence, about the importance of getting an education, about the intelligence of world leaders, and so on. The book is very exciting to read because it can hardly be called an ordinary work of fiction. Quite the contrary, “Psychology of Peoples and Masses” is an entire scientific treatise containing facts and opinions so significant for a person that they are imprinted in the memory and remain there for a long time.

Do you want to know about the image of a leader? How important is an individual's image in a crowd? To do this, you need to familiarize yourself with the book “Psychology of Nations and Masses,” which you can read all day long. Many experts focus their works on this book, and Gustave Le Bon is perceived by them as the first person to do such phenomenal work. Of course, this creation will forever remain one of the most impressive both in the world of fiction and in psychology and sociology.

The only point that contemporaries really didn’t like was equating women with a caste of lower races. But overall, it is worth noting that this book is considered a must-read for every person, since today the level of people management has reached incredible heights.

On our literary website you can download the book “Psychology of Nations and Masses” by Gustave Le Bon for free in formats suitable for different devices - epub, fb2, txt, rtf. Do you like to read books and always keep up with new releases? We have a large selection of books of various genres: classics, modern fiction, psychological literature and children's publications. In addition, we offer interesting and educational articles for aspiring writers and all those who want to learn how to write beautifully. Each of our visitors will be able to find something useful and exciting for themselves.

Psychology of peoples and masses Gustave Lebon

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Title: Psychology of Peoples and Masses
Author: Gustave Le Bon
Year: 1895
Genre: Foreign psychology, Classics of psychology, Social psychology

About the book “Psychology of Nations and Masses” by Gustave Le Bon

Gustave Le Bon is a famous French psychologist and sociologist. He was born on May 7, 1841. Lived a long life. He passed away at the age of 90. The main idea of ​​all the author’s works is the advent of the “era of the masses,” which led to the decline of culture. Due to underdevelopment and low intelligence, people are controlled by base instincts. This is especially noticeable when a person finds himself in a crowd. At this moment, responsibility and intellectual level decrease, and personality as such disappears. The person simply blends in with the crowd.

Many critics have viewed Le Bon's work with skepticism, but almost everyone agrees that his thoughts are of interest. When studying social phenomena, it is important to pay attention not only to their theoretical significance, but also to their practical value. Social facts cannot be covered all at once. Behind known events, many unknown reasons are often hidden.

“Psychology of Peoples and Masses” is one of the main works of a psychologist. In it, Gustave Le Bon spoke about the results of his studies of large social groups. According to the author, a person in a crowd, unexpectedly for himself, develops new qualities. He begins to feel strong and fearless. In a crowd, an individual does not feel responsible for his actions. He forgets about his “I” and merges into the common “We”.

In his work “Psychology of Nations and Masses,” Gustave Le Bon emphasized that in a crowd any action becomes contagious. It gets to the point where, in the name of collective interests, a person can easily sacrifice his own. A person does not have his own will, and he automatically accepts other people's decisions.

The book “Psychology of Nations and Masses” talks about the soul of the crowd. People of the same race have common characteristics. But when individuals come together and form an active crowd, new psychological traits emerge. The conscious activity of a person is replaced by the unconscious activity of the crowd.

In the book “Psychology of Nations and Masses,” the author reflects on the unity, impulsiveness and irritability of the crowd. A crowd of people obeys impulses that destroy their personal interests. At this point, the distinction between a smart and a stupid person is erased. People turn into a gray mass. They are unable to think about their actions and stop thinking soberly. A person becomes gullible without even trying to analyze his actions. The main features of crowd feeling are exaggeration and one-sidedness, according to the author of this study.

On our website about books, you can download the site for free without registration or read online the book “Psychology of Nations and Masses” by Gustave Le Bon in epub, fb2, txt, rtf, pdf formats for iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. The book will give you a lot of pleasant moments and real pleasure from reading. You can buy the full version from our partner. Also, here you will find the latest news from the literary world, learn the biography of your favorite authors. For beginning writers, there is a separate section with useful tips and tricks, interesting articles, thanks to which you yourself can try your hand at literary crafts.

Quotes from the book “Psychology of Nations and Masses” by Gustave Le Bon

In a crowd, only stupidity can accumulate, not intelligence.

The crowd needs a leader. A leader is not necessarily smart, since intelligence gives rise to doubts.

Men and women have been talking to each other for centuries without understanding each other, because their spiritual organisms are built on too different types for them to perceive external things in the same way. The difference in their logic alone would be enough to create an impassable gulf between them.

The transition from barbarism to civilization in pursuit of a dream, then gradual weakening and dying, as soon as this dream is lost - this is the cycle of life of every people.

How many people are capable of understanding their own opinions, and how many opinions are there that could survive even the most superficial examination?

The works of the 19th century historian, psychologist and sociologist Gustave Le Bon are known all over the world, and the book “Psychology of Nations and Masses” is the most popular. In English-language publications, it is usually divided into two books, the first of which is devoted to the psychology of nations, and the other to the psychology of crowds. In the Russian-language version, two books are often combined under one cover. This is not an entertaining read, but a scientific monograph, the results of research that every thoughtful reader should read.

In the first part, Le Bon touches on the characteristics of peoples of different races, showing how important it is to remain separate in terms of culture, traditions and faith. He believes that it is not so much the development of technology and art, but rather the strength of character and ideals. When strong nations try to impose their principles on weaker ones, the weak people become even weaker. In many cases, only a change of names occurs, but the essence, cultural and mental core remains the same.

The second part is devoted to the psychology of the human masses, which is very popular in the modern world. Every self-respecting politician, speaker, marketer and PR person should know about this. The author of the book believes that the power of the elite is being replaced by the power of the crowd. A mass of people is much easier to manage than individuals. In a crowd, boundaries are erased, responsibility is reduced, there is no longer an “I”, but a “we”. People are able to believe in what seems to be an illusion, they see what does not exist, they can give up their priorities and not even notice it. The crowd is impulsive, sensitive and primitive. Here emotions come to the fore, not logic.

The book will be useful to read not only for historians and psychologists, but also for all people who are interested in the connection between people of different nations, human behavior in society, the impact on the masses and the influence of the crowd on the course of history. The knowledge gained allows us to make interesting observations and look at significant historical events differently.

The work belongs to the History genre. Historical sciences. It was published in 1895 by Terra. The book is part of the "Canon of Philosophy" series. On our website you can download the book “Psychology of Peoples and Masses” in fb2, rtf, epub, pdf, txt format or read online. The book's rating is 4.34 out of 5. Here, before reading, you can also turn to reviews from readers who are already familiar with the book and find out their opinion. In our partner's online store you can buy and read the book in paper version.

Gustave Lebon

Psychology of peoples and masses

LA PSYCHOLOGIE DES FOULES

© Russian edition AST Publishers, 2016

Psychology of peoples

Introduction

Modern ideas of equality and the psychological foundations of history

The emergence and development of the idea of ​​equality. - The consequences it produced. – How much did her application cost? Its current influence on the masses. – The tasks outlined in this work. – Study of the main factors of the general evolution of peoples. Does this evolution arise from institutions? – Don’t the elements of each civilization – institutions, art, beliefs, etc. – contain certain psychological foundations characteristic of each individual people? – The significance of the case in history and immutable laws. – Difficulty in changing hereditary ideas in a given subject.

The ideas which govern the institutions of nations undergo a very long evolution. Forming very slowly, they also disappear very slowly. Having become obvious delusions for enlightened minds, they remain undeniable truths for the crowd for a very long time and continue to exert their effect on the dark masses of the people. If it is difficult to instill a new idea, then it is no less difficult to destroy an old one. Humanity constantly clings in despair to dead ideas and dead gods.

Almost a century and a half has passed since poets and philosophers, extremely ignorant of the primitive history of man, the diversity of his mental structure and the laws of heredity, threw into the world the idea of ​​equality of people and races.

Very seductive for the masses, this idea soon became firmly entrenched in their souls and was not slow to bear fruit. It shook the foundations of old societies, produced one of the most terrible revolutions and threw the Western world into a series of violent convulsions to which it is impossible to foresee an end.

No doubt some of the inequalities separating individuals and races were too obvious to require any serious challenge; but people easily calmed down on the fact that these inequalities were only consequences of differences in upbringing, that all people were born equally smart and kind, and that only institutions could corrupt them. The remedy against this was very simple: rebuild institutions and give all people the same education. Thus institutions and education have become the great panaceas of modern democracies, the means for correcting inequalities that are offensive to the great principles that are the only deities of modernity.

However, the latest advances in science have revealed all the futility of egalitarian theories and have proven that the mental abyss created by the past between people and races can only be filled by very slow hereditary accumulations. Modern psychology, together with the harsh lessons of experience, has shown that education and institutions adapted to certain individuals and to certain peoples can be very harmful to others. But it is not in the power of philosophers to withdraw from circulation the ideas they launched into the world when they are convinced of their falsity. Like a river overflowing its banks, which no dam can hold back, the idea continues its devastating, majestic and terrible flow.

And look at the invincible power of an idea! There is not a single psychologist, not a single enlightened statesman, and especially not a single traveler who does not know how false the chimerical concept of the equality of people is, which turned the world upside down, caused a gigantic revolution in Europe and threw America into a bloody war for separation of the Southern States from the North American Union; no one has the moral right to ignore how disastrous our institutions and education are for the lower peoples; and for all this, there is not a single person - at least in France - who, having achieved power, could resist public opinion and not demand this education and these institutions for the natives of our colonies. The application of a system derived from our ideas of equality ruins the mother country, and gradually reduces all our colonies to a state of lamentable decline; but the principles from which the system originates have not yet been shaken.

Although far from declining, the idea of ​​equality continues to grow. In the name of this equality, socialism, which, apparently, should soon enslave the majority of the peoples of the West, strives to ensure their happiness. In his name, a modern woman demands the same rights and the same upbringing as a man.

The masses do not care at all about the political and social revolutions produced by these principles of equality, and about those much more important ones that they are destined to give rise to, and the political life of statesmen is too short for them to worry about it any more. However, the supreme ruler of modern times is public opinion, and it would be absolutely impossible not to follow it.

There is no truer measure of the social importance of an idea than the power it exercises over minds. The amount of truth or falsehood contained in it can be of interest only from a philosophical point of view. When a true or false idea has become a feeling among the masses, then all the consequences arising from it must gradually appear.

So, through education and institutions, the modern dream of equality must begin to be realized. With their help, we try, by correcting the unjust laws of nature, to cast into one mold the brains of blacks from Martinique, Guadeloupe and Senegal, the brains of Arabs from Algeria and, finally, the brains of Asians. Of course, this is a completely impossible chimera, but hasn’t the constant pursuit of chimeras been the main occupation of humanity until now? Modern man cannot evade the law to which his ancestors obeyed.

I have elsewhere shown the deplorable results produced by European education and institutions on the lower peoples. In the same way I have set forth the results of the modern education of women, and do not intend here to return to the old. The questions that we have to study in this work will be of a more general nature.

Leaving aside details, or touching upon them only in so far as they prove necessary for the proof of the principles laid down, I will examine the formation and mental structure of historical races, that is, artificial races formed in historical times by the accidents of conquest, immigration and political changes, and will try to prove that their history flows from this mental structure. I will establish the degree of stability and variability of the characters of races and will also try to find out whether individuals and peoples are moving towards equality or, on the contrary, striving to differ as much as possible from each other. Having shown that the elements out of which a civilization is formed (art, institutions, beliefs) are the direct products of the racial soul and therefore cannot pass from one people to another, I will identify those irresistible forces under whose action civilizations begin to fade and then fade away. These are the questions that I have already had to discuss more than once in my writings on the civilizations of the East. This small volume should be viewed only as a brief synthesis of them.

The most striking impression I have gained from my long travels through various countries is that every people has a mental structure as stable as its anatomical features, and from it come its feelings, its thoughts, its institutions, its beliefs and his art. Tocqueville and other famous thinkers thought to find in the institutions of peoples the reason for their development. I am convinced of the opposite and hope to prove, taking examples from precisely those countries that Tocqueville studied, that institutions have an extremely weak influence on the development of civilizations. They are most often effects, but very rarely causes.

Without a doubt, the history of peoples is determined by very different factors. It is full of special events, accidents that happened, but might not have happened. However, next to these accidents, these secondary circumstances, there are great unchanging laws that govern the general course of every civilization. These unchangeable, most general and most basic laws flow from the mental structure of the races. The life of a people, its institutions, its beliefs and arts are only the visible products of its invisible soul. In order for any people to reform their institutions, their beliefs, and their art, they must first reform their soul; In order for him to be able to pass on his civilization to another, he must also be able to pass on his soul to him. Without a doubt, this is not what history tells us; but we can easily prove that by writing down contrary statements, she is deceiving herself with empty appearances.

I once had occasion to present before a large congress some of the ideas developed in this work.

Genre:

Book Description: This book was first published in 1895. It is still relevant for many readers today. It serves as the basis for the creation of political and many other technologies. It will be an ideal reading option for politicians and media workers. PR people and many other specialists. Any person who does not want to become another victim of propaganda can also become its reader. The book presents the author's main thoughts about propaganda, which greatly affects the consciousness of society. With it, readers will be able to look at all this differently.

In the current times of active fight against piracy, most of the books in our library have only short fragments for reference, including the book Psychology of Peoples and Masses. Thanks to this, you can understand whether you like this book and whether you should purchase it in the future. Thus, you support the work of the writer Gustave Le Bon by legally purchasing the book if you liked its summary.