Despite what politicians philosophers and the press have long told us every peaceful crowd is
not a violent mob in waiting. Dan Hancox argues it is time to rethink long-held assumptions
about crowd behaviour and psychology as well as the part crowds play in our lives. The story
of the modern world is the story of multitudes in action. Crowds are the ultimate force for
change: the bringer of conviviality euphoria mass culture and democracy. Behind the
establishment’s long war against crowds is the work of eccentric proto-fascist Gustave Le Bon.
Having witnessed the revolutionary Paris Commune he declared the crowd barbaric the enemy of
all that was civilized. In the twentieth century his theory influenced Mussolini Hitler and
Freud alike. It moulded the policing of our communities and the new industry of public
relations shaping our cities and politics. From raucous football matches and raves to
rubber-bullet-riddled riots Dan Hancox takes us into the crowd’s pulsating heart to pose the
questions that will define our age. Is the madness of crowds real? What did the January 6
insurrection on Capitol Hill share with the Nuremberg rallies? What fresh dangers are posed to
free assembly by the surveillance society? And how has a radical new generation of
psychologists begun to change everything – even the policing of protests?
