S!'s Reviews > Psicología De Las Masas

read this for a class and i very much don't recommend! le bon's analysis is not only extremely antiquated, but also definitely bigoted, racist, misogynistic and, most of all, REEKS of classism. from the first page, all of my bells were ringing. like, overall, it's a very dubious "scientific" analysis on the psychology of the masses (which masses, le bon? which specific masses did you study and then generalize about? 19th century french ones?). it's a pity that crowd psychology, a branch of social psychology, seems to have originated from this work.

to be Fair and Balanced™, yes, there are some very small moments of interesting commentary that are made more interesting when you apply it to modern internet masses. le bon argues that a person becoming part of a group awards them with anonymity and the unconscious permission to act/think/feel in ways they would not if they were alone. this made me think of, for example, an ugly youtube video comment section or an alt-right troll's twitter. but here's the thing- i can find that analysis from a more modern and better thinker! so, le bon, you have outlived your usefulness. anyway, glad it's over and i handed in my 5pg paper :-)