Foragers may sometimes exist in small groups, but they do not – and probably have not ever – lived in small-scale societies.7 None of which is to say that scale – in the sense of absolute population size – makes no difference at all. What it means is that these things do not necessarily matter in the seemingly common-sense sort of way we tend to assume. On this particular point, at least, Canetti had it right. Mass society exists in the mind before it becomes physical reality. And crucially, it also exists in the mind after it becomes physical reality. At this point we can return to cities.
