Editing Gustave Le Bon

{{Short description|French psychologist (1841–1931)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Gustave Le Bon
| image             = Picture of Le Bon.jpg
| alt               = Portrait of a man in his thirties with swept back hair and a large beard
| caption           = Le Bon, 1888
| birth_name        = Charles-Marie-Gustave Le Bon
| birth_date        = {{birth date|df=yes|1841|5|7}}
| birth_place       = [[Nogent-le-Rotrou]], [[July Monarchy|France]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age|df=yes|1931|12|13|1841|5|7}}
| death_place       = [[Marnes-la-Coquette]], [[French Third Republic|France]]
| resting_place     = [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]]
| field             = [[Anthropology]], [[psychology]], [[sociology]], [[medicine]], [[engineering]], [[physics]]
| work_institutions = 
| education         = [[University of Paris]] ([[Doctor of Medicine|M.D.]])
| known_for         = ''[[The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind]]''<br>[[Crowd Psychology]]
}}

'''Charles-Marie Gustave Le Bon'''{{efn|{{IPAc-en|l|ə|ˈ|b|ɒ̃}}; {{IPA|fr|ɡystav lə bɔ̃|lang}}}} (7 May 1841 – 13 December 1931) was a leading [[French people|French]] [[polymath]] whose areas of interest included [[anthropology]], [[psychology]], [[sociology]], [[medicine]], invention, and [[physics]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Michael|last=Saler|title=The Fin-de-Siècle World|publisher=Routledge|date=2015|isbn=9780415674133|page=450}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Bernard|last=Piette|title=The Universe of Maxwell|publisher=Lulu Press Inc|date=2014|isbn=9781291960082|page=67}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Matthias|last=Beck|title=Risk : A Study of Its Origins, History and Politics|publisher=World Scientific Publishing Company|date=2013|isbn=978-9814383202|page=111}}</ref> He is best known for his 1895 work ''[[The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind]]'', which is considered one of the seminal works of [[crowd psychology]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Jacques|last=Rancière|title=The Method of Equality: Interviews with Laurent Jeanpierre and Dork Zabunyan|publisher=Polity|date=2016|isbn=978-0745680620|page=95}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=John|last1=Drury|first2=Clifford|last2=Scott|title=Crowds in the 21st Century: Perspectives from Contemporary Social Science|publisher=Routledge|date=2015|isbn=978-1138922914|page=169}}</ref>

A native of [[Nogent-le-Rotrou]], Le Bon qualified as a doctor of medicine at the [[University of Paris]] in 1866. He opted against the formal practice of medicine as a physician, instead beginning his writing career the same year of his graduation. He published a number of medical articles and books before joining the [[French Army]] after the outbreak of the [[Franco-Prussian War]]. Defeat in the war coupled with being a first-hand witness to the [[Paris Commune]] of 1871 strongly shaped Le Bon's worldview. He then travelled widely, touring Europe, Asia and North Africa. He analysed the peoples and the civilisations he encountered under the umbrella of the nascent field of anthropology, developing an [[essentialism|essentialist]] view of humanity, and invented a portable [[Cephalometry|cephalometer]] during his travels.

In the 1890s, he turned to psychology and sociology, in which fields he released his most successful works. Le Bon developed the view that crowds are not the sum of their individual parts, proposing that within crowds there forms a new psychological entity, the characteristics of which are determined by the "[[racial unconscious]]" of the crowd. At the same time he created his psychological and sociological theories, he performed experiments in physics and published popular books on the subject, anticipating the [[mass–energy equivalence]] and prophesising the [[Atomic Age]]. Le Bon maintained his eclectic interests up until his death in 1931.

Ignored or maligned by sections of the French academic and scientific establishment during his life due to his politically [[conservative]] and [[reactionary]] views, Le Bon was critical of [[majoritarianism]] and [[socialism]].

== Biography ==
=== Youth ===
Charles-Marie Gustave Le Bon was born in [[Nogent-le-Rotrou]], [[Centre-Val de Loire]] on 7 May 1841 to a family of [[Bretons|Breton]] ancestry. At the time of Le Bon's birth, his mother, Annette Josephine Eugénic Tétiot Desmarlinais, was twenty-six and his father, Jean-Marie Charles Le Bon, was forty-one and a provincial functionary of the French government.<ref>{{cite book|first=Michael|last=Adas|title=Machines as the Measure of Men: Science, Technology, and Ideologies of Western Dominance|publisher=Cornell University Press|date=1990|isbn=9780801497605|page=[https://archive.org/details/machinesasmeasur0000adas/page/195 195]|url=https://archive.org/details/machinesasmeasur0000adas/page/195}}</ref> Le Bon was a direct descendant of Jean-Odet Carnot, whose grandfather, Jean Carnot, had a brother, Denys, from whom the fifth president of the [[French Third Republic]], [[Marie François Sadi Carnot]], was directly descended.<ref name="Widener25">{{harvnb|Widener|1979|p=25}}</ref>

When Le Bon was eight years old, his father obtained a new post in French government and the family, including Gustave's younger brother Georges, left Nogent-le-Rotrou never to return. Nonetheless, the town was proud that Gustave Le Bon was born there and later named a street after him.<ref name="Widener25"/> Little else is known of Le Bon's childhood, except for his attendance at a lycée in [[Tours]], where he was an unexceptional student.<ref>{{harvnb|van Ginneken|1992|p=132}}</ref>

In 1860, he began medicinal studies at the [[University of Paris]]. He completed his internship at [[Hôtel-Dieu de Paris]], and received his [[Doctor of Medicine|doctorate]] in 1866. From that time on, he referred to himself as "Doctor" though he never formally worked as a physician. During his university years, Le Bon wrote articles on a range of medical topics, the first of which related to the maladies that plagued those who lived in [[swamp]]-like conditions. He published several other about [[loa loa filariasis]] and [[asphyxia]] before releasing his first full-length book in 1866, ''De la mort apparente et des inhumations prématurées''. This work dealt with the definition of [[death]], preceding 20th-century [[Legal death#Medical declaration|legal debates]] on the issue.<ref>{{harvnb|Widener|1979|p=26}}</ref>

=== Life in Paris ===
[[File:Gustave Lebon 1.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Gustave Le Bon, {{circa|1870}}]]

After his graduation, Le Bon remained in Paris, where he taught himself [[English language|English]] and [[German language|German]] by reading [[William Shakespeare]]'s works in each language.<ref>{{harvnb|Widener|1979|p=21}}</ref> He maintained his passion for writing and authored several papers on [[physiology|physiological]] studies, as well as an 1868 textbook about [[sexual reproduction]], before joining the [[French Army]] as a medical officer after the outbreak of the [[Franco-Prussian War]] in July 1870.<ref name="nature">{{cite journal|title=Gustave Le Bon|author=Staff writer(s)|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|date=10 May 1941|volume=147|issue=3732|page=573|doi=10.1038/147573a0 |bibcode=1941Natur.147Q.573.|doi-access=free}}</ref> During the war, Le Bon organised a division of [[military ambulance]]s. In that capacity, he observed the behaviour of the military under the worst possible condition—total defeat, and wrote about his reflections on military discipline, leadership and the behaviour of man in a state of stress and suffering. These reflections garnered praise from generals, and were later studied at [[École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr|Saint-Cyr]] and other military academies in France. At the end of the war, Le Bon was named a ''Chevalier'' of the [[Legion of Honour]].<ref>{{harvnb|Widener|1979|p=27}}</ref>

Le Bon also witnessed the [[Paris Commune]] of 1871, which deeply affected his worldview. The then thirty-year-old Le Bon looked on as Parisian revolutionary crowds burned down the [[Tuileries Palace]], the library of the [[Louvre]], the [[Hôtel de Ville, Paris|Hôtel de Ville]], the [[Gobelins Manufactory]], the [[Palais de Justice, Paris|Palais de Justice]], and other irreplaceable works of architectural art.<ref name="Widener28">{{harvnb|Widener|1979|p=28}}</ref>

From 1871 on, Le Bon was an avowed opponent of [[socialism|socialist]] [[pacifism|pacifists]] and [[protectionism|protectionists]], who he believed were halting France's martial development and stifling her industrial growth; stating in 1913: "Only people with lots of cannons have the right to be pacifists."<ref>{{cite book|first=Gustave|last=Le Bon|title=Aphorismes du temps présent|publisher=Ernest Flammarion|date=1913}}</ref> He also warned his countrymen of the deleterious effects of political rivalries in the face of German military might and rapid industrialisation, and therefore was uninvolved in the [[Dreyfus Affair]] which dichotomised France.<ref name="Widener28"/>

=== Widespread travels ===
[[File:Gustave Le Bon 1880.png|thumb|left|160px|Le Bon in [[Algiers]], 1880]]

Le Bon became interested in the emerging field of [[anthropology]] in the 1870s and travelled throughout [[Europe]], [[Asia]] and [[North Africa]]. Influenced by [[Charles Darwin]], [[Herbert Spencer]] and [[Ernst Haeckel]], Le Bon supported [[biological determinism]] and a hierarchical view of the races and sexes; after extensive field research, he posited a correlation between cranial capacity and intelligence in ''Recherches anatomiques et mathématiques sur les variations de volume du cerveau et sur leurs relations avec l'intelligence'' (1879), which earned him the Godard Prize from the [[French Academy of Sciences]].<ref>{{harvnb|Staum|2011|p=65}}</ref> During his research, he invented a portable [[cephalometry|cephalometer]] to aid with measuring the physical characteristics of remote peoples, and in 1881 published a paper, "''The Pocket Cephalometer, or Compass of Coordinates''", detailing his invention and its application.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Robert|last1=Bud|first2=Deborah Jean|last2=Warner|title=Instruments of Science: An Historical Encyclopedia|publisher=Taylor & Francis|date=1998|isbn=9780815315612|page=157}}</ref>

In 1884, he was commissioned by the French government to travel around [[Asia]] and report on the civilisations there.<ref name="nature"/> The results of his journeys were a number of books, and a development in Le Bon's thinking to also view culture to be influenced chiefly by hereditary factors such as the unique racial features of the people.<ref>{{cite book|first=Mehtap|last=Söyler|title=The Turkish Deep State: State Consolidation, Civil-Military Relations and Democracy|publisher=Routledge|date=2015|isbn=9781317668800|page=70}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Partha|last=Mitter|title=Much Maligned Monsters: A History of European Reactions to Indian Art|publisher=University of Chicago Press|date=1992|isbn=9780226532394|page=268}}</ref> The first book, entitled ''La Civilisation des Arabes'', was released in 1884. In this, Le Bon praised [[Arabs]] highly for their contributions to civilisation, but criticised [[Islamism]] as an agent of stagnation.<ref>{{cite book|first=Frederick|last=Quinn|title=The Sum of All Heresies: The Image of Islam in Western Thought|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2007|isbn=9780199886760|page=100}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Albert|last=Hourani|title=Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age 1798-1939|url=https://archive.org/details/arabicthoughtinl0000hour|url-access=registration|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=1962|isbn=9780521274234|page=[https://archive.org/details/arabicthoughtinl0000hour/page/173 173]}}</ref> He also described their culture as superior to that of the [[Turkish people#Ottoman Empire|Turks]] who governed them, and translations of this work were inspirational to early [[Arab nationalism|Arab nationalists]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Sylvia|last=Kedourie|title=Arab Nationalism: An Anthology|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=1962|isbn=9780520026452|page=[https://archive.org/details/arabnationalisma0000unse/page/182 182]|url=https://archive.org/details/arabnationalisma0000unse/page/182}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Martin Seth|last=Kramer|title=Arab Awakening and Islamic Revival: The Politics of Ideas in the Middle East|publisher=Transaction Publishers|date=2011|isbn=9781412817394|page=63}}</ref> He followed this with a trip to [[Nepal]], becoming the first Frenchman to visit the country, and released ''Voyage au Népal'' in 1886.<ref>{{cite book|first=John|last=Carey|title=The Intellectuals and the Masses: Pride and Prejudice Among the Literary Intelligentsia 1880-1939|publisher=Faber & Faber|date=2012|isbn=9780571265107|page=31}}</ref>

He next published ''Les Civilisations de l'Inde'' (1887), in which he applauded Indian architecture, art and religion but argued that Indians were comparatively inferior to Europeans in regard to scientific advancements, and that this had facilitated British domination.<ref>{{cite book|first=Sarah|last=Seymore|title=Close Encounters of the Invasive Kind: Imperial History in Selected British Novels of Alien-Encounter Science Fiction After World War II|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|date=2013|isbn=9783643903914|page=108}}</ref> In 1889, he released ''Les Premières Civilisations de l'Orient'', giving in it an overview of the Mesopotamian, Indian, Chinese and Egyptian civilisations. The same year, he delivered a speech to the International Colonial Congress criticising colonial policies which included attempts of [[cultural assimilation]], stating: "Leave to the natives their customs, their institutions and their laws."<ref>{{harvnb|Betts|1960|p=68}}</ref> Le Bon released the last book on the topic of his travels, entitled ''Les monuments de l'Inde'', in 1893, again praising the architectural achievements of the Indian people.<ref>{{cite book|first=David L.|last=Sills|title=International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences|url=https://archive.org/details/internationalenc08sill|url-access=registration|publisher=Macmillan|date=1968|isbn=9780028661520|page=[https://archive.org/details/internationalenc08sill/page/82 82]}}</ref>

=== Development of theories ===
[[File:Gustave Le Bon V.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Gustave Le Bon on horseback, {{c.|1895}}]]

On his travels, Le Bon travelled largely on horseback and noticed that techniques used by horse breeders and trainers varied dependent on the region. He returned to Paris and in 1892, while riding a high-spirited horse, he was bucked off and narrowly escaped death. He was unsure as to what caused him to be thrown off the horse, and decided to begin a study of what he had done wrong as a rider.<ref>{{harvnb|Widener|1979|p=14}}</ref> The result of his study was ''L'Équitation actuelle et ses principes. Recherches expérimentales'' (1892), which consisted of numerous photographs of horses in action combined with analysis by Le Bon. This work became a respected cavalry manual, and Le Bon extrapolated his studies on the behaviour of horses to develop theories on [[early childhood education]].<ref>{{harvnb|Widener|1979|p=15}}</ref>

Le Bon's behavioural study of horses also sparked a long-standing interest in [[psychology]], and in 1894 he released ''Lois psychologiques de l'évolution des peuples''. This work was dedicated to his friend [[Charles Richet]] though it drew much from the theories of [[Théodule-Armand Ribot]], to whom Le Bon dedicated ''[[The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind|Psychologie des Foules]]'' (1895).<ref>{{harvnb|van Ginneken|1992|p=172}}</ref> ''Psychologie des Foules'' was in part a summation of Le Bon's 1881 work, ''L'Homme et les sociétés,'' to which [[Émile Durkheim]] referred in his doctoral dissertation, ''[[The Division of Labour in Society|De la division du travail social]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Who's Afraid of "Dr. Le Bon"?|first=Gerhard|last=Wagner|journal=Sociological Theory|publisher=American Sociological Association|date=November 1993|volume=11|issue=3|pages=321–323|doi=10.2307/201974|jstor=201974}}</ref>

Both were best-sellers, with ''Psychologie des Foules'' being translated into nineteen languages within one year of its appearance.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Stuart|last1=Ewen|first2=Elizabeth|last2=Ewen|title=Typecasting: On the Arts and Sciences of Human Inequality|publisher=Seven Stories Press|date=2011|isbn=9781583229491|page=346}}</ref> Le Bon followed these with two more books on psychology, ''Psychologie du Socialisme'' and ''Psychologie de l'Éducation'', in 1896 and 1902 respectively. These works rankled the largely socialist academic establishment of France.<ref>{{cite book|first=Robert A.|last=Nye|title=An Intellectual Portrait of Gustave Le Bon: A Study of the Development and Impact of the Social Scientist in His Historical Setting|publisher=Xerox University Microfilms|date=1969|page=5}}</ref>

[[File:Gustave Le Bon.jpg|thumb|Gustave Le Bon, {{circa|1900}}]]
Le Bon constructed a home laboratory in the early 1890s, and in 1896 reported observing "black light", a new kind of [[radiation]] that he believed was distinct from, but possibly related to, [[X-ray]]s and [[cathode ray]]s.<ref>{{cite book|first=Mary|last=Nye|title=Gustave Le Bon's Black Light: A Study in Physics and Philosophy in France at the Turn of the Century|date=1974|pages=163–195}}</ref> Not the same type of radiation as what is now known as [[black light]], its existence was never confirmed and, similar to [[N ray]]s, it is now generally understood to be non-existent, but the discovery claim attracted much attention among French scientists at the time, many of whom supported it and Le Bon's general ideas on matter and radiation, and he was even nominated for the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 1903.<ref>{{cite book|first=Helge|last=Kragh|title=Quantum Generations: A History of Physics in the Twentieth Century|url=https://archive.org/details/quantumgeneratio0000krag|url-access=registration|publisher=Princeton University Press|date=1999|pages=[https://archive.org/details/quantumgeneratio0000krag/page/11 11–12]|isbn=9780691012063}}</ref>

In 1902, Le Bon began a series of weekly luncheons <!--(''les déjeuners du mercredi'') -->to which he invited prominent intellectuals, nobles and ladies of fashion. The strength of his personal networks is apparent from the guest list: participants included cousins [[Henri Poincaré|Henri]] and [[Raymond Poincaré]], [[Paul Valéry]], [[Alexander Izvolsky]], [[Henri Bergson]], [[Marcellin Berthelot]] and [[Aristide Briand]].<ref>{{harvnb|Betts|1960|p=65}}</ref>

In ''L'Évolution de la Matière'' (1905), Le Bon anticipated the [[mass–energy equivalence]], and in a 1922 letter to [[Albert Einstein]] complained about his lack of recognition. Einstein responded and conceded that a mass–energy equivalence had been proposed before him, but only the [[theory of relativity]] had cogently proved it.<ref>{{cite book|first=Max|last=Jammer|title=Concepts of Mass in Contemporary Physics and Philosophy|publisher=Princeton University Press|date=2009|isbn=9781400823789|page=72}}</ref> [[Gaston Moch]] gave Le Bon credit for anticipating Einstein's theory of relativity.<ref>{{cite book|first=Richard M.|last=Swiderski|title=X-Ray Vision: A Way of Looking|publisher=Universal-Publishers|date=2012|isbn=9781612331089|page=67}}</ref> In ''L'Évolution des Forces'' (1907), Le Bon prophesied the [[Atomic Age]].<ref>{{harvnb|Widener|1979|p=13}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Maurice|last=Crosland|title=Science Under Control: The French Academy of Sciences 1795-1914|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2002|page=347}}</ref> <!--The major premise of ''L'Évolution de la Matière'' is that matter is an inherently unstable substance and slowly transforms into [[luminiferous aether]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=Peter|last1=Galison|first2=Gerald James|last2=Holton|first3=Silvan S.|last3=Schweber|title=Einstein for the 21st Century: His Legacy in Science, Art, and Modern Culture|publisher=Princeton University Press|date=2008|isbn=9780691135205|page=104}}</ref>--> He wrote about "the manifestation of a new force—namely [[Nuclear binding energy|intra-atomic energy]]—which surpasses all others by its colossal magnitude," and stated that a scientist who discovered a way to [[dissociation (chemistry)|dissociate]] rapidly one gram of any metal would "not witness the results of his experiments ... the explosion produced would be so formidable that his laboratory and all neighbouring houses, with their inhabitants, would be instantaneously pulverised."<ref>{{harvnb|Widener|1979|p=19}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Martin A.|last=Kayman|title=Modernism Of Ezra Pound: The Science Of Poetry|publisher=Springer|date=1986|isbn=9781349182473|page=83}}</ref>

[[File:Portrait of Gustave Le Bon.jpg|thumb|left|Doctor Gustave Le Bon, 1914]]
Le Bon discontinued his research in physics in 1908, and turned again to psychology. He released ''La Psychologie politique et la défense sociale'', ''Les Opinions et les croyances'', ''La Révolution Française et la Psychologie des Révolutions'', ''Aphorismes du temps présent'', and ''La Vie des vérités'' in back-to-back years from 1910 to 1914, expounding in which his views on affective and rational thought, the psychology of race, and the history of civilisation.

=== Later life and death ===
[[File:Gustave Le Bon 1929.jpg|thumb|Le Bon in 1929, aged 88]]
Le Bon continued writing throughout [[World War I]], publishing ''Enseignements Psychologiques de la Guerre Européenne'' (1915), ''Premières conséquences de la guerre: transformation mentale des peuples'' (1916) and ''Hier et demain. Pensées brèves'' (1918) during the war.

He then released ''Psychologie des Temps Nouveaux'' (1920) before resigning from his position as Professor of Psychology and Allied Sciences at the University of Paris and retiring to his home.

He released ''Le Déséquilibre du Monde'', ''Les Incertitudes de l'heure présente'' and ''L'évolution actuelle du monde, illusions et réalités'' in 1923, 1924 and 1927 respectively, giving in them his views of the world during the volatile [[interwar period]].

He became a ''Grand-Croix'' of the Legion of Honour in 1929. He published his last work, entitled ''Bases scientifiques d'une philosophie de l'histoire'', in 1931 and on 13 December, died in [[Marnes-la-Coquette]], [[Île-de-France]] at the age of ninety.<ref>{{cite book|first=J. S.|last=McClelland|title=A History of Western Political Thought|publisher=Routledge|date=2005|isbn=9781134812103|page=660}}</ref>

{{blockquote|In putting an end to the long, diverse and fruitful activity of Gustave Le Bon, death deprived our culture of a truly remarkable man. His was a man of most exceptional intelligence; it sprang entirely from within himself; he was his own master, his own initiator.... Science and philosophy have suffered a cruel loss.<ref>{{cite news|author=Staff writer(s)|title=Gustave Le Bon obituary|publisher=Journal des débats|date=14 December 1931}}</ref>}}

== Le Bonian thought ==
{{expand section|date=October 2016}}
{{Conservatism in France|Intellectuals}}
Convinced that human actions are guided by eternal laws, Le Bon attempted to synthesise [[Auguste Comte]] and [[Herbert Spencer]] with [[Jules Michelet]] and [[Alexis de Tocqueville]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

=== Inspirations ===
According to [[Steve Reicher]], Le Bon was not the first [[crowd psychology|crowd psychologist]]: "The first debate in crowd psychology was actually between two [[criminology|criminologists]], [[Scipio Sighele]] and [[Gabriel Tarde]], concerning how to determine and assign criminal responsibility within a crowd and hence who to arrest."<ref>{{cite book|first=Steve|last=Reicher|title=Blackwell Handbook of Social Psychology: Group Processes|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|date=2003|page=185}}</ref><!--<ref>{{cite book|first=J. S.|last=McClelland|title=The Crowd and the Mob: From Plato to Canetti|publisher=Routledge|date=2010|pages=151-181}}</ref>--> Le Bon, who also explicitly recognised the positive potential of crowds, viewed the criminological focus of the earlier authors as an unnecessary restriction for the study of crowd psychology.<ref>The Crowd: A study of the Popular Mind. Gustave Le Bon. 1841 [1931] Dover Publications, p. 9.</ref>

=== Crowds ===
Le Bon theorised that the new entity, the "psychological crowd", which emerges from incorporating the assembled population not only forms a new body but also creates a collective "unconsciousness". As a group of people gather together and coalesces to form a crowd, there is a "magnetic influence given out by the crowd" that transmutes every individual's behaviour until it becomes governed by the "[[Groupthink|group mind]]". This model treats the crowd as a unit in its composition which robs every individual member of their opinions, values and beliefs; as Le Bon states: "An individual in a crowd is a grain of sand amid other grains of sand, which the wind stirs up at will".

Le Bon detailed three key processes that create the psychological crowd: i) Anonymity, ii) Contagion and iii) Suggestibility. Anonymity provides to rational individuals a feeling of invincibility and the loss of personal responsibility. An individual becomes primitive, unreasoning, and emotional. This lack of self-restraint allows individuals to "yield to instincts" and to accept the instinctual drives of their "[[Unconscious mind|unconscious]]". For Le Bon, the crowd inverts Darwin's law of evolution and becomes [[atavism|atavistic]], proving [[Ernst Haeckel]]'s embryological theory: "[[ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny]]". Contagion refers to the spread in the crowd of particular behaviours and individuals sacrifice their personal interest for the collective interest. Suggestibility is the mechanism through which the contagion is achieved; as the crowd coalesces into a singular mind, suggestions made by strong voices in the crowd create a space for the unconscious to come to the forefront and guide its behaviour. At this stage, the psychological crowd becomes homogeneous and malleable to suggestions from its strongest members. "The leaders we speak of," says Le Bon, "are usually men of action rather than of words. They are not gifted with keen foresight... They are especially recruited from the ranks of those morbidly nervous excitable half-deranged persons who are bordering on madness."

== Influence ==
[[File:Jules cesar.jpg|thumb|"The type of hero dear to a crowd will always have the semblance of a [[Caesarism|Caesar]]. His insignia attracts them, his authority overawes them, and his sword instills them with fear."]]
[[George Lachmann Mosse]] claimed that fascist theories of leadership that emerged during the 1920s owed much to Le Bon's theories of crowd psychology. [[Adolf Hitler]] is known to have read ''The Crowd'' and in ''[[Mein Kampf]]'' drew on the [[propaganda techniques]] proposed by Le Bon.<ref>{{cite book|first=Geoff|last=Eley|title=Citizenship and National Identity in Twentieth-century Germany|publisher=Stanford University Press|date=2008|page=284}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Jay Y.|last=Gonen|title=The Roots of Nazi Psychology: Hitler's Utopian Barbarism|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|date=2013|page=92}}</ref> [[Benito Mussolini]] also made a careful study of Le Bon.<ref>{{harvnb|van Ginneken|1992|p=186}}</ref>

Le Bon was widely read within the [[Committee of Union and Progress]] in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Philosophical and military leaders who would later lead the [[Young Turk Revolution]], such as [[Ahmet Rıza]] and [[Enver Bey]], took inspiration from Le Bon and movements such as [[Social Darwinism]] to define their elitist and authoritarian approach to politics, as well as their advocacy of [[revolution from above]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Hanioğlu|first=M. Șükrü|title=Preparation for a Revolution: The Young Turks, 1902–1908|year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199771110|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nNdKQfEdyvgC&q=Gustave%20Le%20Bon|pages=308{{ndash}}314}}</ref>

Some commentators have drawn a link between Le Bon and [[Vladimir Lenin]] / the [[Bolsheviks]].<ref>{{harvnb|Ohlberg|2014|p=162}}</ref>

Just prior to [[World War I]], [[Wilfred Trotter]] introduced [[Wilfred Bion]] to Le Bon's writings and [[Sigmund Freud]]'s work ''[[Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego]]''. Trotter's book ''Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War'' (1919) forms the basis for the research of both Wilfred Bion and [[Ernest Jones]] who established what would be called [[group dynamics]]. During the first half of the twentieth century, Le Bon's writings were used by media researchers such as [[Hadley Cantril]] and [[Herbert Blumer]] to describe the reactions of subordinate groups to media.

[[Edward Bernays]], a nephew of [[Sigmund Freud]], was influenced by Le Bon and Trotter. In his influential book ''[[Propaganda (book)|Propaganda]]'', he declared that a major feature of [[democracy]] was the manipulation of the electorate by the [[mass media]] and [[advertising]]. Some have claimed that, [[Theodore Roosevelt]] and [[Charles G. Dawes]] and many other American [[Progressivism in the United States|progressives]] in the early 20th century were also deeply affected by Le Bon's writings.<ref>{{cite book|first=Stuart|last=Ewen|title=PR!: A Social History of Spin|publisher=Basic Books|date=1996|page=63}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Philosophical anthropology]]
* ''[[Völkerpsychologie]]''

==Works==
:''Bibliography compiled from the 1984 reissue of [[Psychologie du Socialisme]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Gustave|last=Le Bon|title=Psychologie du Socialisme|date=1984|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k55493/f415|pages=415–416}}</ref>''

'''Medical'''
* ''De la mort apparente et des inhumations prématurées'' (1866); ("Apparent Death and Premature Burials")
* ''Traité pratique des maladies des organes génitaux-urinaires'' (1869); ("Practical Treatise of Diseases of the Genitourinary System") 
* ''La Vie physiologique humaine appliquée à l'hygiène et à la médecine'' (1874); ("Life (Treatise of Human Physiology)")

'''Anthropology, psychology and sociology'''
* ''Histoire des origines et du développement de l'homme et des sociétés'' (1877); ("History of the Origins and Development of Man and Society")
* ''Voyage aux Monts-Tatras'' (1881); ("Travel to Tatra Mountains")
* ''L'Homme et les sociétés'' (1881); ("Man and Society")
* ''La Civilisation des Arabes'' (1884); ''The World of Islamic Civilization'' (1884)
* ''Voyage au Népal'' (1886); ("Travel to Nepal")
* ''Les Civilisations de l'Inde'' (1887); ("The Civilisations of India")
* ''Les Premières Civilisations de l'Orient'' (1889); ("The First Civilisations of the Orient")
* ''Les Monuments de l'Inde'' (1893); ("The Monuments of India")
* ''Les Lois Psychologiques de l'Évolution des Peuples'' (1894); ([https://archive.org/stream/cu31924030249522 "''The Psychology of Peoples''"], 1898) [https://librivox.org/the-psychology-of-peoples-its-influence-on-their-evolution-by-gustave-le-bon/ Audiobook available].
* ''[[The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind|Psychologie des Foules]] (1895); ("[[The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind]]''", 1986) [https://archive.org/stream/crowdastudypopu00bongoog Full text available]; [https://librivox.org/the-crowd-by-gustave-le-bon/ Audiobook available].
* ''Psychologie du Socialisme'' (1896); [https://archive.org/stream/cu31924030349587 ''The Psychology of Socialism''] (1899)
* ''Psychologie de l'éducation'' (1902); ("The Psychology of Education")
* ''La Psychologie Politique et la Défense Sociale'' (1910); ("The Psychology of Politics and Social Defense")
* ''Les Opinions et les croyances'' (1911); ("Opinions and Beliefs")
* ''La Révolution Française et la Psychologie des Révolutions'' (1912); [https://archive.org/stream/cu31924024309753 ''The Psychology of Revolution''] (1913) [https://librivox.org/author/11790?primary_key=11790&search_category=author&search_page=1&search_form=get_results Audiobook available]; ''The French Revolution and the Psychology of Revolution'' (1980).
* ''Aphorismes du temps présent'' (1913); ("Aphorisms of Present Times")
* ''La Vie des vérités'' (1914); ("Truths of Life")
* ''Enseignements Psychologiques de la Guerre Européenne'' (1915); [https://archive.org/stream/cu31924027857014 ''The Psychology of the Great War''] (1916)
* ''Premières conséquences de la guerre: transformation mentale des peuples'' (1916); ("First Consequences of War: Mental Transformation of Peoples")
* ''Hier et demain. Pensées brèves'' (1918); ("Yesterday and Tomorrow. Brief thoughts")
* ''Psychologie des Temps Nouveaux'' (1920); [https://archive.org/stream/worldinrevoltpsy00lebo ''The World in Revolt''] (1921)
* ''Le Déséquilibre du Monde'' (1923); [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031928990;view=1up;seq=7 ''The World Unbalanced''] (1924)
* ''Les Incertitudes de l'heure présente'' (1924); ("The Uncertainties of the Present Hour")
* ''L'Évolution actuelle du monde, illusions et réalités'' (1927); ("The Current Evolution of the World, Illusions and Realities")
* ''Bases scientifiques d'une philosophie de l'histoire'' (1931); ("Scientific Basis for a Philosophy of History")

'''Natural science'''
* ''La Méthode graphique et les appareils enregistreurs'' (1878); ("The Graphical Method and recording devices")
* ''Recherches anatomiques et mathématiques sur les variations de volume du cerveau et sur leurs relations avec l'intelligence'' (1879); ("Anatomical and mathematical research on the changes in brain volume and its relationships with intelligence")
* ''La Fumée du tabac'' (1880); ("Tobacco smoke")
* ''Les Levers photographiques'' (1888); ("Photographic surveying")
* ''L'Équitation actuelle et ses principes. Recherches expérimentales'' (1892); ("Equitation: The Psychology of the Horse")
* ''L'Évolution de la Matière'' (1905); [https://archive.org/stream/evolutionmatter00legggoog#page/n7/mode/2up ''The Evolution of Matter''] (1907)
* ''La Naissance et l'évanouissement de la matière'' (1907); ("The birth and disappearance of matter")
* ''L'Évolution des Forces'' (1907); [https://archive.org/stream/evolutionofforce00leboiala#page/n5/mode/2up ''The Evolution of Forces''] (1908)
<!--== Selected works ==
* ''Experimental Research on the Variations of the Volume of the Brain and Skull'' (1878)
**In this 1878 presentation to the Anthropology Society of Paris, Dr. Gustave Le Bon summarizes his extensive research on the volume of the brain and skull. The major findings of his study are: (1) "what constitutes the superiority of one race over another is that the superior race contains many more voluminous skulls than the inferior race;” (2) "comparing the largest skulls belonging to the superior races to the largest skulls of the inferior races, the difference amounts to the enormous number of 400 cubic centimeters;" (3) "the difference existing between the brain weight of a man and woman progressively increases as a people's level of civilization rises." These conclusions were based on patterns contained in the measurements he obtained by grouping data in a statistical progressive series.
* ''The Study of Races and Present-day Anthropology '' (1881)
**In this 1881 treatise Dr. Gustave Le Bon strongly criticizes his fellow anthropologists for merely calculating the averages of the various craniological measurements in their data set. Such "averages are fictitious values that provide a totally false idea of the elements that have served to constitute them," he says. Instead, he urges his fellow scientists to analyze their data by utilizing a series statistical method which will accurately determine the intelligence level of a race. Le Bon concludes the paper with two claims, (1) "skull volume directly corresponds with intelligence," and (2) "the superior race contains a certain number of quite voluminous skulls, whereas the inferior race does not.
* ''On the Applications of Photography to Anthropology with Respect to the Photographs Taken of the Fuegians Housed at the Jardin d'Acclimatation'' (1881)
**In this November 17, 1881 presentation to the Anthropology Society of Paris, Dr. Gustave Le Bon describes several photographs that he took of individuals from Tierra del Fuego who were housed at the time at the Jardin d'Acclimatation in Paris. Employing a new photography method, which involved the use of a dry emulsion of gelatino-silver bromide, Le Bon was "able to operate in an instantaneous manner." He comments that his Fuegian subjects were, "caught in the most diverse, but at the same time the most natural, poses." Gustave Le Bon presented this paper as a helpful introduction to the much longer presentation by Dr. Leonce Manouvrier, who had taken detailed measurements of 50 different body parts (foot length, etc.) on the same Tierra del Fuegian individuals Le Bon had photographed. See, "The Fuegians of the Jardin d'Acclimatation" by Leonce Manouvrier).
* ''Applications of Psychology to the Classification of Races'' (1886)
** In this 1886 paper Dr. Gustave Le Bon analyzes the various races of India from a psychological point of view. This viewpoint represents a dramatic change in Le Bon’s approach to anthropology. After his departure from anthropology it appears that he took up the idea that a race can be best defined by its psychological qualities, rather than by its physical characteristics. In this study he classifies the peoples of India into three large groups, the largest of which is composed of the Hindus. He has two major conclusions: (1) the psychological qualities of the Hindus are submissiveness, absence of energy, fatalism, and lack of precision in thought; and (2) the mass of the Hindu population is intellectually equal to Europeans. Although he qualifies this finding with the remark that the "former, unlike the latter, does not possess a certain number of superior intellects." The paper is illustrated with reproduced photos to illuminate his findings.-->

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Sources ==
{{refbegin}}
*{{citation|first=Susanna|last=Barrows|title=Distorting Mirrors – Visions of the Crowd in Late 19th Century France|publisher=Yale University Press|date=1981}}
*{{citation|first=Robert|last=Nye|title=The Origins of Crowd Psychology – Gustave Le Bon and the Crisis of Mass Democracy in the Third Republic|publisher=Sage|date=1975}}
*{{citation|first=Jaap|last=van Ginneken|title=Crowds, Psychology, and Politics, 1871-1899|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=1992}}
*{{citation|first=Raymond F.|last=Betts|title=Assimilation and Association in French Colonial Theory, 1890-1914|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|date=1960}}
*{{citation|first=Martin S.|last=Staum|title=Nature and Nurture in French Social Sciences, 1859–1914 and Beyond|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press|date=2011}}
*{{citation|first=Alain|last=de Benoist|title=Vu de droite. Anthologie critique des idées contemporaines|publisher=Copernic|date=1977}}
*{{citation|first=Jean|last=Terrier|title=Visions of the Social: Society as a Political Project in France, 1750-1950|publisher=BRILL|date=2011}}
*{{citation|first=Marieke|last=Ohlberg|title=The Era of Crowds: Gustave Le Bon, Crowd Psychology and Conceptualizations of Mass-Elite Relations in China|publisher=Springer|date=2014}}
*{{citation|first=Alice|last=Widener|title=Gustave Le Bon, the Man and His Works|publisher=Liberty Press|date=1979}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{wikiquote}}
{{wikisource author}}
{{commons category}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/gustave-le-bon/}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=239| name=Gustave Le Bon}}
* {{Librivox author |id=11790}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Gustave Le Bon}}
* [http://dly.free.fr/site/article.php3?id_article=45 Gustave Le Bon's works:] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070314160758/http://dly.free.fr/site/article.php3?id_article=45 |date=2007-03-14 }} Page on Gustave Le Bon with his works available in French and in English
* [http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/le_bon_gustave/le_bon_gustave.html Les Classiques des Sciences Sociales: Le Bon]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Bon, Gustave}}
[[Category:1841 births]]
[[Category:1931 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Nogent-le-Rotrou]]
[[Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery]]
[[Category:Crowd psychologists]]
[[Category:French anthropologists]]
[[Category:French archaeologists]]
[[Category:French people of Breton descent]]
[[Category:French physicists]]
[[Category:French psychologists]]
[[Category:19th-century French social scientists]]
[[Category:French sociologists]]
[[Category:Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:History of psychology]]
[[Category:Propaganda theorists]]
[[Category:Social psychologists]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]