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Last edited by kolakowj7580
September 7, 2023 | History

Gustave Le Bon

Charles-Marie Gustave Le Bon (French: [ɡystav lə bɔ̃]; 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: A Study of the Popular Mind, which is considered one of the seminal works of crowd psychology.

A native of Nogent-le-Rotrou, Le Bon qualified as a doctor of medicine at the University of Paris in 1866. He opted against the formal practice of medicine as a physician, instead beginning his writing career the same year of his graduation. He published a number of medical articles and books before joining the French Army after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. Defeat in the war coupled with being a first-hand witness to the Paris Commune of 1871 strongly shaped Le Bon's worldview. He then travelled widely, touring Europe, Asia and North Africa. He analysed the peoples and the civilisations he encountered under the umbrella of the nascent field of anthropology, developing an essentialist view of humanity, and invented a portable cephalometer during his travels.

In the 1890s, he turned to psychology and sociology, in which fields he released his most successful works. Le Bon developed the view that crowds are not the sum of their individual parts, proposing that within crowds there forms a new psychological entity, the characteristics of which are determined by the "racial unconscious" of the crowd. At the same time he created his psychological and sociological theories, he performed experiments in physics and published popular books on the subject, anticipating the mass–energy equivalence and prophesising the Atomic Age.[citation needed] Le Bon maintained his eclectic interests up until his death in 1931.

Ignored or maligned by sections of the French academic and scientific establishment during his life due to his politically conservative and reactionary views, Le Bon was critical of majoritarianism and socialism.

French psychologist (1841-1931)

Born 7 May 1841
Died 13 December 1931

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  • Cover of: The crowd: a study of the popular mind

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  • Cover of: The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind

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  • Cover of: The psychology of socialism

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  • Cover of: La Révolution française et la psychologie des révolutions

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  • Cover of: The psychology of peoples.
    First published in 1974 8 editions

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  • Cover of: Kitleler Psikolojisi
    First published in 2009 7 editions

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  • Cover of: The Evolution of Matter
    First published in 2018 7 editions

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  • Cover of: Psychology of Socialism
    First published in 2017 6 editions

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  • Cover of: The world in revolt: a psychological study of our times

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  • Cover of: The psychology of the great war

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  • Cover of: The psychology of peoples.

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  • Cover of: La psychologie politique: - Défense sociale et assassinat politique

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  • Cover of: L'évolution des forces
    First published in 1907 4 editions

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  • Cover of: Psychology of the Great War
    First published in 1916 4 editions

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  • Cover of: vie des vérités
    First published in 1914 3 editions

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  • Cover of: Tamaddun-i Hind
    First published in 1962 3 editions

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  • Cover of: Wu he zhi zhong: da zhong xin li yan jiu = Crowd : a study of the popular mind

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  • Cover of: Psychologie Des Foules

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  • Cover of: Psychologie des foules
    First published in 1911 3 editions

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  • Cover of: The Psychology of Revolution
    First published in 2018 3 editions

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French psychologist (1841-1931)

Born 7 May 1841
Died 13 December 1931

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September 7, 2023 Edited by kolakowj7580 added bio and photo
September 7, 2023 Edited by kolakowj7580 Added new photo
January 3, 2022 Edited by Tom Morris merge authors
September 30, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot add ISNI
April 1, 2008 Created by an anonymous user initial import