# XVIII: Democracy Not the Crowd: Our Popular Delusion explained — The New State

> Chapter companion for The New State by Mary Parker Follett.

## What happens

This chapter distinguishes true democracy from crowd rule, arguing that democracy has been wrongly conflated with mass rule and the 'average.' The author contends that the crowd and the individual are false alternatives; the true unit of democracy is the group. The group process, not crowd psychology, generates genuine collective will and spiritual unity. The chapter critiques both those who glorify and those who denounce the crowd, and calls for group organization as the technique for realizing democracy.

## Themes in this chapter

### Rejection of Crowd Psychology and Mass Rule

The chapter explicitly rejects crowd psychology as the basis for democracy, distinguishing group process from mass rule.

### Group Process as the Foundation of True Democracy

Argues that genuine democracy requires group organization and the group man, not the crowd or the isolated individual.

## Character check-ins

### Narrator

The narrator argues against the crowd fallacy and advocates for group organization as the basis of true democracy.

### We the People

Referred to as 'the people' who must rule through group methods, not as a crowd.

### Bagehot

Criticized for overemphasizing the imitative part of human nature, placing him in the crowd school.

## Key lines

> True democracy frees us from such particularist point of view. It is the group man, not the crowd man, who must be the unit of democracy.

Genuine democracy liberates us from seeing individuals in isolation; the group member, not the crowd member, should be the fundamental unit.

_Central thesis distinguishing group-based democracy from both individualism and crowd rule._

> The crowd theory and the particularistic theory rest on the same fallacy, namely, looking on individuals one by one: the crowd doctrine is an attempt to unite mechanically the isolated individuals we have so ardently believed in.

Both crowd theory and individualism share the error of treating people as isolated units; the crowd merely tries to mechanically combine these separate individuals.

_Highlights the underlying fallacy common to both individualism and mass rule._

> Democracy will not succeed until assemblages of people are governed consciously and deliberately by group laws.

Democracy can only succeed when groups of people are intentionally and thoughtfully guided by the principles of group organization.

_Emphasizes the need for conscious application of group laws in democratic practice._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_new_state_se/chapters/xviii-democracy-not-the-crowd-our-popular-delusion
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_new_state_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_new_state_se/chapters