Mass and power. Kanetti E.

Elias Kanetti (1905 - 1994) - Austrian and British writer and playwright, philosopher and culturalist, Nobel laureate in literature for 1981, twice laureate of the Franz Kafka Prize.

Still as a very young man, Elias Kanetti witnessed a grandiose fire when rebellious workers set fire to the Vienna Palace of Justice. The coordinated actions of the excited crowd made an indelible impression on Kanetti, and he devoted a majority of his life to study this amazing phenomenon. The result of these many years of research was the socio-philosophical treatise "Mass and Power."

How does a person become part of the crowd? Why does it cease to be an independent person? Why is the desire to merge with the crowd in each of us? With the help of what psychological tricks does the authorities keep the people in subordination? And how do outsiders appear in the crowd - strong and independent personalities on which even the most sophisticated manipulation techniques do not work?..