Psychology of the masses. Lebon G.

The masses, covered by some idea, since ancient times have now and then appeared in the arena of history. However, only with the beginning of the era of great revolutions did the masses turn into independent political force, capable of overthrowing one power and establishing another. They were distinguished from the usual participants in political competitions: numbers, composition, way of thinking, the ability to self -organize and actions without a clear leader. It was necessary to speak their language with the masses, to negotiate according to their rules, but to study this language and master the rules in the frantic rhythm of historical changes. From the time of the Great French Revolution, almost a hundred years have gone before the first, at least general, sketches of teachings about the psychology of the masses, appeared in the social and philosophical thought of France. One of the works on this topic, “Psychology of the masses”, belongs to the Peru Gustav Lebon. The book saw the light in 1895 and since then diverged with millions of print runs, although the author himself called it only a brief generalization, summarizing his research. Reading the book, it is easy to understand that the author was clearly modest - the ideological and meaningful scale of his work is fascinating, on a hundred extra pages he placed a full -fledged presentation of the properties and qualities of the people's mass, the crowd as a collective subject. Lebon created his work on the anger of the day, in response to the historical challenges that the European society of the second half of the 19th century faced. But this book became a real guide into the space of public life and in the world of ideas of that time - it describes the beginning of public shocks, their completion is unfolding before our eyes. Or maybe a sequel...-Tatyana Vrublevskaya-Tocer.