MAIN IDEA:

This book goes all the way back to 1960 and explores the dynamic relationship between different types of crowds and power. The author differentiates types of crowds into crowds and packs and provides a detailed analysis of each type. Similarly, he analyses the process of applying power and the psychology of the people who do it and to whom it is done. Finally, a lot of attention and space is allocated to the components of power and processes relevant to its use.

MY TAKE ON IT:

In my view, it is way too detailed and a minuscule analysis of relatively simple things.  Obviously, the individuals in the crowd act and behave differently than they do by themselves, but they remain individuals all the same. So, the question is how to train individuals to maintain psychological independence and avoid becoming an insignificant and passive part of a bigger organism. I believe that it is necessary because only by maintaining such psychological independence among the significant share of the population can humanity avoid the collective madness of wars, revolutions, and massive witch-hunt movements periodically exploding within human societies. All these forms of organized massive violence are based on the elimination of individual responsibility for actions and mistaken beliefs in the tremendous rewards in the future for all members of the crowd. Such future collectivistic rewards usually never come, while pain and suffering caused by all this greatly damage people’s lives, whether they are victims or perpetrators. In short, only individual freedom of action with sufficient resources to implement these actions could lead to human happiness. At the same time, “great” ideas, like Nazis and Islamists’ idea to kill all Jews or communists’ idea to build a society perfectly controlled by the elite from the top down, could never do it.