Author : Serge Moscovici
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521277051
Total Pages : 418 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (77 download)
Book Synopsis The Age of the Crowd by : Serge Moscovici
Download or read book The Age of the Crowd written by Serge Moscovici and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1985-09-05 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Age of the Crowd is at one level an historical account of the development of mass psychology, and at another an analysis of its implications for prevalent political and social life. It was the prophecy of Gustave Le Bon in 1895 that the twentieth century would be 'l'âge des foules' that gave Serge Moscovici the title for his book, and it presents a systematic exposition of Le Bon's ideas and those of Gabriel Tarde, demonstrating convincingly their influence on the theories of collective psychology advanced by Sigmund Freud. These theories are re-examined by Professor Moscovici in a fascinating commentary on political life: Hitler, Mussolini, Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky all in some way applied them in their leadership styles with consequences that are all too familiar. The scenario painted by this volume is a disturbing one. Serge Moscovici's acute analyses of mass phenomena raise fundamental questions concerning the foundations of democracy.