A Critique Of Le Bon s The Crowd - 1648 Words

Briefly acquaint yourself with the Encyclopedia Britannica entry about Gustave Le Bon. Afterwards read a couple of pages from the following work by this author. Please discuss this reading assignment in light of the reading materials for this unit. A Critique of Le Bon’s The Crowd. â€Å"Steel isn’t strong, boy, flesh is stronger!†¦ That is strength, boy! That is power!† (Howard, 1982) The problem that lay ahead of the newly Prussian Prime Minister was that most Germans did not, if fact, wanted to be a part of a unified Germany—especially if this was under Prussian hegemony. However, Otto von Bismarck did not become Prime Minister of the strongest European military by chance; in 1862, taking advantage of the constitutional crisis, he manipulated†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"A collective mind is formed, doubtless transitory, but presenting very clearly defined characteristics† (Le Bon, 1897). After presenting the psychological characteristics of the crowds, their sentiments and morality, the ideas and reasoning power, he then proceeded to explain their religious sentiment. Le Bon’s work is important in the same way Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon (Clouse, 1973) was; it was not the best martial-arts film ever, but it was the first such film to penetrate the US market. Likewise, Le Bon’s work is not the best study on crowds, but it was the first such study ever. Undeniably, it suffers from one major shortcoming that would disqualify any scientific study today: the lack of real evidence. Indeed, nowhere in his work do we find any data—whether quantitative or qualitative—to support his position; instead, what we find is a sharp intuition able to find common patterns in historical events. However, by definition, a work that lacks verifiable and repeatable data cannot be called scientific. Furthermore, even his historical examples in support of his thesis suggest a rather haphazard approach in research. For example, upon focusing on the Roman Empire, he mentions a population of a hundred million; now, demographics before the modern era is a highly contested subject due to the lack of reliable censuses. This is the first indication of Le Bon’s