''Crowds and Power'' () is a 1960 book by

Elias Canetti Elias Canetti (; 25 July 1905 – 14 August 1994; ; ) was a German-language writer, known as a Literary modernism, modernist novelist, playwright, memoirist, and nonfiction writer. Born in Ruse, Bulgaria, to a Sephardi Jews, Sephardic Jewish fam ...

, dealing with the dynamics of

crowd A crowd is as a group of people that have gathered for a common purpose or intent. Examples are a Demonstration (people), demonstration, a Sport, sports event, or a looting (classified in sociology as an acting crowd). A crowd may also simply ...

s and "packs" and the question of how and why crowds obey

power Power may refer to: Common meanings * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power, a type of energy * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events Math ...

of rulers. Canetti draws a parallel between ruling and paranoia. Also, the memoirs of

Daniel Paul Schreber Daniel Paul Schreber (; 25 July 1842 – 14 April 1911) was a German judge who was famous for his personal account of his own experience with schizophrenia. Schreber experienced three distinct periods of acute mental illness. The first of these ...

are analyzed with an implicit critique of

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...

and

Gustave Le Bon Charles-Marie Gustave Le Bon (7 May 1841 – 13 December 1931) was a leading French polymath whose areas of interest included anthropology, psychology, sociology, medicine, invention, and physics. He is best known for his 1895 work '' The Crowd: ...

. The book was translated from German into English by Carol Stewart in 1962 and published by Gollancz.

Overview

Although wide-ranging in its erudition, this essay is not scholarly or academic in a conventional way. Rather, it reads a bit like a manual written by someone outside the human race explaining to

another Another may refer to: * anOther or Another Magazine, a culture and fashion magazine * ''Another'' (novel), a Japanese horror novel ** ''Another'' (film), a Japanese 2012 live-action film based on the novel ** ''Another'' (TV series), a Japanese ...

outsider in concise and highly metaphoric language how people form mobs and manipulate power. However, Canetti also uses "we" in his text and does not dissociate from humanity. On asking questions: "On the questioner the effect is a feeling of enhanced power. He enjoys this and consequentially asks more and more questions; every answer he receives is an act of

submission Deference (also called submission or passivity) is the condition of submitting to the espoused, legitimate influence of one's superior or superiors. Deference implies a yielding or submitting to the judgment of a recognized superior, out of re ...

. Personal freedom consists largely in having a defense against questions. The most blatant tyranny is the one which asks the most blatant questions." This work remains important for the insights it provided into the Eastern European upheaval which can be understood within the framework Canetti puts forth.Kiss (2004), p.730 It shows the growth of crowds and their power against even the power of the state.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * *McClelland, John: "The Place of Elias Canetti's Crowds and Power in the History of Western Social and Political Thought." ''Thesis Eleven'' 1996 45: 16–27. * {{authority control 1960 non-fiction books Books about crowd psychology Books by Elias Canetti German non-fiction books Victor Gollancz Ltd books Books about political power