Gustave Le Bon’s idea of the Irrational Crowd is a deeply controversial one, having been utilised by fascists such as Mussolini and Hitler when considering the formation of their parties (Jaap van Ginneken, 1992). Le Bon’s Irrational Crowd is characterised by the opinion that crowds swallow and hypnotise individuals. Crowds give individuals a sense of invincibility and anonymity which allows them to access darker and normally repressed urges of violence. However, modern social science claims to have evolved from Le Bon’s crowd, instead arguing that crowds are the result of social conditions which force groups of people to become somehow politically engaged.
I aim to understand how the key features of both Le Bon’s and the modern social sciences’ crowd theories can be applied to a case study. The case study in question is the January 6th Capitol Riot in which supporters of Donald Trump entered the US Capitol Building illegally and terrorised inhabitants. I will first analyse the key features and make a list of three that can be applied to the study. I will then apply them to the case study before drawing my conclusions as to whether Le Bon or the modern approach are more convincing when examining this particular mass phenomenon.
“Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know”
In this section I aim to outline the key features of Gustave Le Bon’s work The Crowd so that we can apply certain rules and showcases of Le Bon’s theory to our case study. I will be doing this with the aid of a source analysing The Crowd alongside The Crowd itself so as to make sure the most important aspects of Irrational Crowd Theory are catalogued and able to be used later in this work.
Le Bon argues that crowds are incapable of committing acts of great intelligence. He argues that the crowd strips a man of his intellect and instead makes him a sum of his unconscious traits, that all humans possess. “From the intellectual point of view an abyss may exist between a great mathematician and his bootmaker” (Bon, 1895), but the crowd renders them part of the same entity. The crowd values neither for their intellect, and so crowds do not discriminate in their membership’s intellect.
Le Bon also famously argues that crowds are “contagious” and “hypnotic” (Bon, 1895). Indeed, anybody who has been part of a crowd spanning from protest to mosh pit will recognise the sense of trance-like togetherness with the crowd. Le Bon argues that the hypnosis of crowds is so powerful that “an individual readily sacrifices his personal interest to the collective interest” (Academy of Ideas, 2013). This will be how the hypnosis aspect of Le Bon’s crowd will be applied to the case study, as it will be immensely difficult to prove a sensation such as hypnosis without a first-hand account detailing as such.
Crowds, having no individuality or true grasp of the ideas they fight for, must be shepherded. This is where the leader comes in for Le Bon, who is most often “one of the led” (Bon, 1895). They become infatuated with the same idea the crowd is but are men of action rather than mediocrity or shrewd thinking. Their conviction is strong enough to infatuate a crowd and drive it forward. It is their expertise of the crowd’s particular persuasion that allows the crowd to feel informed on their passion and thus willing to move forward. Indeed, the idea fed to the crowd by leaders must be simplified so that the intellectually inferior crowd can execute it. “However great or true an idea may have been, it is deprived of almost all that which constituted its elevation and greatness by the mere fact that it has come within the intellectual range of crowds and exerts an influence upon them” (Academy of Ideas, 2013).
So, these are the criteria by which we shall be assessing whether or not the January 6th attack on the US Capitol fits within Gustave Le Bon’s narrative irrational crowd narrative. In their simplified form, they are:
Does the crowd contain groups of differing “intellect”?
Is the crowd acting against the best interests of the individuals involved?
Is the crowd motivated by intellectually simple ideas? Is there a leader espousing this messaging?
The Modern Approach
Le Bon is not the be all and end all when researching the behaviour of crowds. The modern social sciences take many issues with the brand of philosophy that inspired the fascists of the early 20th century and instead analyse crowd conduct from a different perspective entirely.
One vital feature of the modern approach to the crowd is the distinction that a crowd is irrational and formed of individuals who are hypnotised. Stephanie Baker, for example, makes the assessment that crowds “emanate from social factors, including, inequality, discrimination and deprivation” (Baker, 2012). Indeed, she goes on to assert that crowds are compelled to feel the same way due to stimulus. Steven Reicher expands on this by saying that crowds are merely individuals who “have a ‘we’ feeling”, a group of people brought together by something that binds them whether it be a political belief, support for an athlete, artist or sports team (Social Science Bites, 2016).
Another idea that differs greatly from Le Bon’s own interpretation is the rejection of the loss of individuality. Instead, Floyd Allport argues that the crowd is made up of individuals who all internally reflect the mood of said crowd. He maintains that the storming of the Bastille was not done by some mindless collective but instead many individuals who remained conscious and were fuelled by “the same hatred […] that was now bursting into flame in the crowd.” He ends this point with an excellent summation of such a point, that “the individual in the crowd behaves just as he would behave alone, only more so” (Allport, 2007).
A flaw of any popular philosophy is that it cannot be adapted to the modern world by the original thinker. On this train of thought, Crowd theory fails to account for some aspects of modern world, namely social media. Social Media is used frequently in the modern world in what Baker describes as a “mediated crowd”. This is a crowd that uses various online messenger services to plan a physical meeting in public, allowing these crowds to have a blueprint as to their goals and actions before congregation (Baker, 2012).
Thus, I find myself with my criteria by which the case study will be judged under the lens of the modern social science approach to crowd theory. It is as follows:
Does the crowd act as a result of social stimulus?
Do the crowd participants have an already existing persuasion in the direction of their crowd’s activism?
Does the crowd use social media as a tool of organisation?
January 6th 2021: The Le Bon Perspective
When judging the ‘intellect’ of the participants of the capitol crowd, we must of course be careful. Personally, this writer would not distinguish between the intellect of those in manual labour jobs and those in STEM, politics, philosophy etc. However, as we are judging the crowd by Le Bon’s criteria initially, we must remain consistent. The only example Le Bon gives us is of a “mathematician and his bootmaker”, clearly to demonstrate two groups of differing intention. Therefore, I have worked within Le Bon’s own limited definition of intellect. Whilst of course it nearly impossible to know the levels of diversity within the crowd given that most of the members are not public figures or arrested, it has been possible to uncover enough to argue in favour of Le Bon’s assertion.
By using examples of people who have lost their jobs, it is clear that not only manual, less strictly professional workers were involved but also CEOs, teachers, general counsels and marketing directors (AJ Willingham, 2021) (Impelli, 2021). These are certainly jobs that require a degree of Le Bon’s perceived intellect, and thus Le Bon’s vision that the crowd often contains individuals of perceived high intellect as well as perceived low intellect applies.
When caught in the crowd, Le Bon argues that the individuals will act in the benefit of crowd mood rather than in their own personal self-interest. I would argue that for a large part, the physical ‘invasion’ of the Capitol building is an excellent example of this being true. Despite being part of a relatively sizeable group, the chance that the crowd would be able to hold the Capitol long term is minimal. In fact, they seemed to have no collective plan of what they wished to do once they entered. Whilst some groups seemed to have nefarious intent for the politicians inside (Wolfe, 2022), others seemed content to wonder the Senate Wing in a strange ego trip (Luke Kenton, 2021). There was no plan of resistance and no plan, really, to hold the Capitol. There were many arrests of those involved and numerous of the rioters who were identifiable in photographers were cut from their employment (AJ Willingham, 2021). It is clear, then, that the crowd’s intoxicating effect absolutely made the members of the Capitol riot act against their own individual self-interest.
The third criteria adapted from Le Bon’s work is that of the crowd being motivated by simple ideas. This, alongside the following point, play very nicely into Le Bon’s Crowd Theory. The Capitol riot was committed, so say the rioters, in the name of “our country” (BBC News, 2022). They believed that the election was a “crime” and they were fighting for injustice (Loh, 2022). Trump’s entire presidential strategy revolved around simple messaging, from “STOP THE COUNT” (Moore, 2020) to “Build That Wall” (FOX, 2016), boiling down legitimate policy and political issues into simple slogans that are easily transferred from person to person. However, in the footage of the crowd there is very little in the way of policy discussion. Instead, there are audible cries of similar simple messaging such as “they are not going to take away our Trumpy-bear”, “you are not going to take away our freedom” (Naughtie, 2022), chants of “USA” and “Treason” (Times, 2021). Trump, in this case study, is the clear leader and shepherd of these protesters, speaking to them directly many times and being the very reason for the riot (Breuninger, 2021). The messaging by Trump, alongside the messaging of the riot itself is incredibly simple, snappy and powerful in persuading the enraged masses. Thus, Le Bon once again justifies himself.
January 6th 2021: An Alternate Interpretation
The Crowd at the Capitol riot very clearly acted as a result of social stimulus. This is because they were present at the Capitol building in the first place due to the political sway of Donald Trump’s Republican Party. Trump, as a candidate, represent a rejection of “failed political establishment” and the embrace of a man who wouldn’t allow true Americans to be crushed under the foot of the big political powers (The Economic Times, 2016). He was a brash denunciation of the political liberals who represent the ‘political correctness’ his voter base notoriously fights against. It follows, then, that when faced with the defeat of this man and the notion he represents at the hands of what was called corruption, the supporters cried injustice. Whether legitimate corruption or not is not important. What is important is that these people believed themselves to be fighting against injustice, against a system desperate to suppress the voice of the free people. With this in mind, it is apparent that the crowd emanated from social factors.
It is also hard to argue that the participants of the crowd were not acting “as they would behave alone, only more so” (Allport, 2007). As just expanded upon, the members of the crowd were likely to all have been Trump supporters. Some were members of the Proud Boys or other far right militia groups, likely delighting in the opportunity to provide a show of strength. The Proud Boys are described by the Southern Poverty Law Centre as having one main objective: “to create combustible situations where violence is likely and, once ignited, can be used to fuel the narrative of right-wing victimisation” (Southern Poverty Law Center, n.d.). These people are plainly acting as they would alone given that they are part of groups dedicated to forming these kinds of conditions. Others are regular, more balanced Trump supporters who may take issue with their idol being ‘robbed’ of his ‘rightful’ place at the head of the country. A great many of the known participants have no prior links to extremism but instead harboured a belief that the election was “stolen” and that it aligned with their beliefs as Trump supporting Republicans and patriots to fight against this (Farivar, 2021). Evidently, the members of the Capitol crowd acted as they would have done alone.
The use of social media in the planning stages of the Capitol riot also plays heavily into the modern forms of crowd theory. The riot wasn’t a spontaneous mass of angry voices as was commonplace in Le Bon’s experiences, but instead a calculated mass of like-minded people all arranging to meet and express their displeasure at the same time. By using social media platforms, the Capitol riot was able to be organised on a scale otherwise impossible. Outraged supporters across the US were able to congregate in one location, at one time, united by the internet in their convictions. Social media platforms were used to communicate ways to avoid police, equipment was best to bring and how heavily armed to be (Frenkel, 2021). Not only this, but social media was used to spark the very ideology that was prevalent within the rioters, that of a stolen election (Craig Timberg, 2021). It could be argued that without social media, there would have been no capitol riot, and thus the theory is given strength.
Conclusion
Through analysing this case study in relation to the key criteria of both Le Bon’s Irrational Crowd Theory and modern social sciences’ approach to Crowd Theory, an interesting truth has been uncovered. Both approaches can absolutely be applied to a modern, relevant case study. The core difference between them is that Le Bon’s aim seems to be to condemn the crowd. The points his Crowd Theory highlights are those of an easily manipulated, stupid leviathan that strips those within it of their best interests in favour of the crowd’s aim. The modern approach aims more to understand the crowd’s perspective rather than disparage it and looks at the individuals making up the crowd. They aim to do different things and so this writer finds to play them against one another, to call one more or less convincing than the other is ultimately counterproductive. Le Bon deals with the ugly reality of the crowd and modern social science delves more into why the crowd, into the justification of the crowd’s action. Both explain different aspects of the crowd, and so both are incredibly convincing in their own allegations.
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