Daria Frezza covers six tumultuous decades of transatlantic history to examine how European theories of mass politics and crowd psychology influenced American social scientists' perception of crowds, mobs, democratic "people," and its leadership. In the last decades of the nineteenth century, the development of an urban-industrial mass society and the disordered influx of millions of immigrants required a redefinition of these important categories in American public discourse. Frezza shows how in the Atlantic crossing of ideas American social scientists reelaborated the European theories of crowd psychology and the racial theories then in fashion. Theorists made a sharp distinction between the irrationality of the crowd, including lynchings, and the rationality of the democratic "public." However, this paradigm of a rational Anglo-Saxon male public in opposition to irrational mobs--traditionally considered to be composed of women, children, "savages"--was challenged by the reality of southern lynch mobs made up of white Anglo-Saxons, people who used mob violence as an instrument of subjugation over an allegedly inferior race. After World War I, when the topic of eugenics and immigration restrictions ignited the debate of exclusion/inclusion regarding U.S. citizenship, Franz Boas's work provided a significant counterbalance to the biased language of race. Furthermore, the very concept of democracy was questioned from many points of view. During the Depression years, social scientists such as John Dewey critically analyzed the democratic system in comparison to European dictatorships. The debate then acquired an international dimension. In the "ideological rearmament of America" on the eve of World War II, social scientists criticized Nazi racism but at the same time stressed how racism was also deeply rooted in America. This is a fresh and provocative look at the parallels between the emergence of America as a world power and the maturing of the new discipline of social science.

A career-spanning anthology of essays on politics and culture by the best-selling author of The Flamethrowers includes entries discussing a Palestinian refugee camp, an illegal Baja Peninsula motorcycle race, and the 1970s Fiat factory wildcat strikes.

This book analyses sociological discussions on crowds and masses since the late nineteenth century, covering France, Germany and the USA.

In the compelling anthology WHAT IS MOB MENTALITY? - 8 Essential Books on Crowd Psychology, readers are presented with a thought-provoking exploration of the psychological phenomena of group behavior. Across a variety of literary stylesfrom treatises to analytical essaysthe collection delves into the mechanics of human behavior within large groups, offering insights into how and why individuals relinquish their sense of self to the collective. Highlighting the diversity and significance of the works included, the anthology stands out for its historical depth and the timeless relevance of its themes, adeptly weaving together seminal texts that have shaped our understanding of crowd psychology. The anthology not only serves as a compendium of foundational perspectives but also as a platform for critical engagement with the subject matter. The contributing authors and editors, Charles Mackay, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Gerald Stanley Lee, Gustave Le Bon, William McDougall, Everett Dean Martin, and Wilfred Trotter, are distinguished for their pioneering contributions to social psychology and philosophy. Their collective works intersect with key moments in intellectual history, from Enlightenment thought to early twentieth-century sociology, reflecting a broad spectrum of viewpoints on mob mentality. This confluence of historical, cultural, and literary movements enables readers to appreciate the complexity of crowd dynamics, showcasing the anthologys role in fostering a nuanced understanding of collective human behavior. Scholars, students, and general readers alike will find WHAT IS MOB MENTALITY? - 8 Essential Books on Crowd Psychology an indispensable resource. This anthology not only offers educational value through its comprehensive coverage of crowd psychology but also invites readers into a dialogue with the past, encouraging a deeper interrogation of contemporary societal behaviors. Through its curated selection of texts, the collection provides a unique lens through which to explore the intricate interplay between individual agency and collective influence, making it a must-read for anyone seeking to unravel the mysteries of human social behavior.

This contributed volume explores innovative research in the modeling, simulation, and control of crowd dynamics. Chapter authors approach the topic from the perspectives of mathematics, physics, engineering, and psychology, providing a comprehensive overview of the work carried out in this challenging interdisciplinary research field. In light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, special consideration is given to applications of crowd dynamics to the prevention of the spreading of contagious diseases. Some of the specific topics covered in this volume include: - Impact of physical distancing on the evacuation of crowds- Generalized solutions of opinion dynamics models- Crowd dynamics coupled with models for infectious disease spreading- Optimized strategies for leaders in controlling the dynamics of a crowd Crowd Dynamics, Volume 3 is ideal for mathematicians, engineers, physicists, and other researchers working in the rapidly growing field of modeling and simulation of human crowds.

Politics of the Many draws inspiration from Percy Bysshe Shelley's celebrated call to arms: 'Ye are many – they are few!' This idea of the Many, as a general form of emancipatory subjectivity that cannot be erased for the sake of the One, is the philosophical and political assumption shared by contributors to this book. They raise questions of collective agency, and its crisis in contemporary capitalism, via new engagements with Marxist philosophy, psychoanalysis, theories of social reproduction and value-form, and post-colonial critiques, and drawing on activist thought and strategies. This book interrogates both established and emergent formations of the Many (the people, classes, publics, crowds, masses, multitudes), tracing their genealogies, their recent failures and victories, and their potentials to change the world. The book proposes and explores an intense and provoking series of new or reinvented concepts, figures, and theoretical constellations, including dividuality, the centaur, unintentional vanguard, insomnia at work, always-on capitalism, multitude (from its 'voiding' to a '(non)emergence'), crowds, necropolitics, and the link between political subjectivity and value-form. The contributors to Politics of the Many are both acclaimed and emergent thinkers including Carina Brand, Rebecca Carson, Luhuna Carvalho, Lorenzo Chiesa, Jodi Dean, Dario Gentili, Benjamin Halligan, Marc James Léger, Paul Mazzocchi, Alexei Penzin, Stefano Pippa, Gerald Raunig, and Stevphen Shukaitis.

Published in 1998. This research is based on observations made of 33 crowd events between February 1992 - February 1995. These took place in Turkey, England and Wales and all of which involved a large police deployment. In addition, informal interviews were conducted in both countries, involving key figures in areas of police public order training and practice. Further, visits were made to training sites and public order units, to familiarise the researcher with public order policing in both countries. Finally, the researcher has attended three major public order courses organised for the senior members of British police forces. This research analyzes the underlying assumptions contained within the existing theories in the field and attempts to adjudicate on the validity of both classical and modern contributions to the understanding of the field. The research concludes that any public order policing, regardless of the political system it serves, will tend to be relatively paramilitary and oppressive. Civilian public order policing practices need to take account of an approach which appreciates a wide combination of levels of understanding as represented by Combined Factors Approach. Finally, it is argued that the more public order policy reflects the potential level of understanding promoted by the CFA the less emphasis on paramilitary techniques will be deployed as tactics of last resort.