The Power of the Masses between Good and Evil

Abstract

In the history of mankind, the modern age was once labelled by Gustave Le Bon as the age of the “power of the crowds” or of the “power of the masses”. The French psychologist was followed by many other authors who thought that the masses’ entering history and their rising to sovereignty were the landmarks of our time. Among them, José Ortega y Gasset, Elias Canetti, Serge Moscovici, Michel-Loius Rouquette, Peter Sloterdjik and so on. Regardless of the specific issues approached, they all emphasized the masses’ increasingly important role in history. In the early 20th century, many authors were sure that the masses would soon “prevail”. Moreover, their analyses also reveal some concerns about the manner in which the “power of the masses” is sometimes used and the increasing violence of the crowds. Therefore, the masses cannot always be talked about in an abstract and idealized manner that glorifies them. In this context, this study analyzes the connection between the power of the masses and their psychological features. We will focus on the relationship established between the power, the rebellion and the violence of the masses and we will try to answer questions such as: how can the power of the masses be steered so that it be used only for the common good? Or what are the solutions needed to diminish the unwanted consequences that the increasingly important role of the crowds could have at the individual or social level?