The Crowd | Page 5

CROWDS


CHAPTER IV
A RELIGIOUS SHAPE ASSUMED BY ALL THE CONVICTIONS OF CROWDS

BOOK II THE OPINIONS AND BELIEFS OF CROWDS


CHAPTER I
REMOTE FACTORS OF THE OPINIONS AND BELIEFS OF CROWDS


CHAPTER II
THE IMMEDIATE FACTORS OF THE OPINIONS OF CROWDS


CHAPTER III
THE LEADERS OF CROWDS AND THEIR MEANS OF PERSUASION


CHAPTER IV
LIMITATIONS OF THE VARIABILITY OF THE BELIEFS AND OPINIONS OF
CROWDS

BOOK III THE CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT
KINDS OF CROWDS


CHAPTER I
THE CLASSIFICATION OF CROWDS


CHAPTER II
CROWDS TERMED CRIMINAL CROWDS


CHAPTER III
CRIMINAL JURIES


CHAPTER IV
ELECTORAL CROWDS


CHAPTER V
PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLIES

INTRODUCTION. THE ERA OF CROWDS.
The evolution of the present age--The great changes in civilisation are the consequence of
changes in National thought--Modern belief in the power of crowds--It transforms the
traditional policy of the European states--How the rise of the popular classes comes about,
and the manner in which they exercise their power--The necessary consequences of the
power of the crowd--Crowds unable to play a part other than destructive--The dissolution
of worn-out civilisations is the work of the crowd--General ignorance of the psychology
of crowds-- Importance of the study of crowds for legislators and statesmen.
The great upheavals which precede changes of civilisations such as the fall of the Roman
Empire and the foundation of the Arabian Empire, seem at first sight determined more
especially by political transformations, foreign invasion, or the overthrow of dynasties.
But a more attentive study of these events shows that behind their apparent causes the
real cause is generally seen to be a profound modification in the ideas of the peoples. The
true historical upheavals are not those which astonish us by their grandeur and violence.
The only important changes whence the renewal of civilisations results, affect ideas,
conceptions, and beliefs. The memorable events of history are the visible effects of the
invisible changes of human thought. The reason these great events are so rare is that there

is nothing so stable in a race as the inherited groundwork of its thoughts.
The present epoch is one of these critical moments in which the thought of mankind is
undergoing a process of transformation.
Two fundamental factors are at the base of this transformation. The first is the destruction
of those religious, political, and social beliefs in which all the elements of our civilisation
are rooted. The second is the creation of entirely new conditions of existence and thought
as the result of modern scientific and industrial discoveries.
The ideas of the past, although half destroyed, being still very powerful, and the ideas
which are to replace them being still in process of formation, the modern age represents a
period of transition and anarchy.
It is not easy to say as yet what will one day be evolved from this necessarily somewhat
chaotic period. What will be the fundamental ideas on which the societies that are to
succeed our own will be built up? We do not at present know. Still it is already clear that
on whatever lines the societies of the future are organised, they will have to count with a
new power, with the last surviving sovereign force of modern times, the power of crowds.
On the ruins of so many ideas formerly considered beyond discussion, and to-day
decayed or decaying, of so many sources of authority that successive revolutions have
destroyed, this power, which alone has arisen in their stead, seems soon destined to
absorb the others. While all our ancient beliefs are tottering and disappearing, while the
old pillars of society are giving way one by one, the power of the crowd is the only force
that nothing menaces, and of which the prestige is continually on the increase. The age
we are about to enter will in truth be the ERA OF CROWDS.
Scarcely a century ago the traditional policy of European states and the rivalries of
sovereigns were the principal factors that shaped events. The opinion of the masses
scarcely counted, and most frequently indeed did not count at all. To-day it is the
traditions which used to obtain in politics, and the individual tendencies and rivalries of
rulers which do not count; while, on the contrary, the voice of the masses has become
preponderant. It is this voice that dictates their conduct to kings, whose endeavour is to
take note of its utterances. The destinies of nations are elaborated at present in the heart
of the masses, and no longer in the councils of princes.
The entry of the popular classes into political life--that is to say, in reality, their
progressive transformation into governing classes--is one of the most striking
characteristics of our epoch of