The Crowd · Chapter
IV: Electoral Crowds explained
This chapter examines the psychology of electoral crowds, highlighting their lack of reasoning, critical spirit, and susceptibility to influence through affirmation, repetition, prestige, and contagion.
What happens
This chapter examines the psychology of electoral crowds, highlighting their lack of reasoning, critical spirit, and susceptibility to influence through affirmation, repetition, prestige, and contagion. It discusses the necessity for a candidate to possess prestige, the use of flattery and extravagant promises, the power of words and formulas, and the dominant role of election committees. The chapter also defends universal suffrage on practical grounds despite its psychological weaknesses, arguing that the dogma of popular sovereignty is as unassailable as religious dogmas of the past.
Themes in this chapter
Irrationality and Credulity
Electoral crowds are characterized by slight aptitude for reasoning, absence of critical spirit, and credulity, easily swayed by affirmations and promises.
Leadership and Suggestion
The candidate's prestige, use of flattery, and the influence of leaders and committees are central to persuading electoral crowds.
Power of Beliefs and Ideas
Words and formulas like 'federal republic' or 'socialisation of wealth' have magical sway, shaping opinions and actions without precise meaning.
Role of the Press
The chapter references newspaper reports of meetings, illustrating how the press documents crowd behavior and the chaos of electoral gatherings.
Characters to notice
- Crowds
Electoral crowds are described as heterogeneous, lacking reasoning, critical spirit, and being highly suggestible and credulous.
- The Speaker
The orator who uses persuasive techniques such as affirmation, repetition, and prestige can sway electoral crowds.
- Comrade X
Mentioned as an orator at a meeting who attacks socialists, leading to chaos and violence.
- M. C⸺
Cited as using epithets like 'odious and cowardly' against an association during a student meeting.
- Boulanger
General Boulanger's repeated elections were secured with three million francs, illustrating the influence of financial resources.
- M. Jules Simon
Referenced as a champion of democracy, describing election committees as the cornerstone of institutions.
Key passages
“It is of primary importance that the candidate should possess prestige. Personal prestige can only be replaced by that resulting from wealth.”
A candidate must have prestige, which can only be substituted by wealth, to succeed in elections.
Highlights the necessity of prestige or wealth for electoral success.
“The reason why the electors, of whom a majority are working men or peasants, so rarely choose a man from their own ranks to represent them is that such a person enjoys no prestige among them.”
Working men and peasants rarely elect candidates from their own class because those candidates lack prestige.
Explains the lack of class representation due to absence of prestige.
“The candidate’s written programme should not be too categorical, since later on his adversaries might bring it up against him; in his verbal programme, however, there cannot be too much exaggeration.”
A candidate's written platform should be vague to avoid future criticism, but spoken promises should be exaggerated.
Describes strategic ambiguity in written vs. verbal promises.
“The dogma of the sovereignty of crowds is as little defensible, from the philosophical point of view, as the religious dogmas of the Middle Ages, but it enjoys at present the same absolute power they formerly enjoyed.”
The belief in crowd sovereignty is philosophically weak but currently as powerful as medieval religious dogmas.
Compares universal suffrage dogma to medieval religious authority.
