Gustave Le Bon and the psychology of the masses

The name of Gustave Le Bon is associated with several of the most important events of the 20th century in the world.. His ideas and studies encouraged Nazi ideology. It is speculated that the book My struggleby Adolf Hitler, was inspired by the work of Le Bon.

Gustave Le Bon was born in Nogent-le Rotrou (France) on May 7, 1841. He trained as a doctor, but dedicated much of his life to the study of sociology, psychology, physics and anthropology. He was a military doctor during the Franco-German war and his first research was dedicated to physiology. He then focused on archeology and anthropology.

The French government itself sent him to the East as an archaeologist. He visited a large number of countries in that area of ​​the world. He also traveled extensively in Europe and Africa. From his research and observations a series of books began to emerge . The most famous of them was Psychology of the masses.

The Darwinian approach of Gustave Le Bon

Much of the work by Gustave Le Bon is dedicated to justifying the colonialism of the European powers. His main argument for this was the proposition that superior races exist. To prove it, he used a large number of conjectures and quite questionable evidence.

Le Bon was convinced of determinism geographical. It basically stated that only under certain geographical conditions could truly intelligent, beautiful and morally developed men and women appear. Such conditions were those of Europe and the superior race was the Aryans.

Gustave Le Bon was also convinced that there were several races well differentiated humans. He was not referring to variable physical or genetic traits, but rather he truly thought that each race was a separate species. Of course, he also believed that there were superior and inferior races.

If the superior races mixed with each other, or with one of the inferior ones, the results could be good. On the other hand, if two or more inferior races mixed, the consequence was a degenerated people.

The psychology of the masses

Gustave Le Bon became particularly famous for the publication of his book Psychology of the masses. His basic approach was that human beings collectively develop behaviors that they would never develop individually.. In other words, groups have a determining influence on individuals.

Notes that The main reasons why the “I” is lost in the “we” are the following:

The human being perceives the mass as an invincible power. He stops feeling responsible because he is an anonymous figure in her.The masses infect their way of feeling and acting to those who make them up. This occurs unconsciously and allows the mass to be manipulated by a leader.The mass suggests and hypnotizes the individual. Being part of a crowd leads to experiencing feelings of omnipotence.In the masses the unreal predominates over the real. It is compact and does not break due to internal differences.Mass is perceived as a survival mechanism. Not belonging to the masses is seen as a serious danger.

It should be noted that he himself Sigmund Freud wrote an entire work to question Gustave Le Bon’s mass psychology. Freud’s work is called Psychology of the masses and analysis of the self.

The impact of Le Bon’s theories

Although Gustave Le Bon defined himself as a democrat, the truth is that his approaches notably encouraged Nazi ideology, fascism and all the sectors that emerged from that matrix. Ultimately, Le Bon argued that the masses were a servile herd and therefore could not exist without a master.. He pointed out that this master or leader had to be someone with a strong personality, very defined beliefs and a powerful will.

On the other hand, Le Bon’s approaches to the unconscious achieved great dissemination and notoriety.. In this field he made important contributions, which on the one hand were taken up by the Nazi propaganda apparatus, but on the other, they laid important foundations for advertising activity.

Gustave Le Bon died in 1931. He probably never imagined that his ideas would serve to encourage the Nazi holocaust.. Much less did it occur to him that his own country, France, was going to be a victim of discrimination by the Aryans.

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