Crowds and Democracy

Crowds and Democracy

The Idea and Image of the Masses from Revolution to Fascism

Between 1918 and 1933, the masses became a decisive preoccupation of European culture, fueling modernist movements in art, literature, architecture, theater, and cinema, as well as the rise of communism and fascism and experiments in radical democracy.

Spanning aesthetics, cultural studies, intellectual history, and political theory, this volume unpacks the significance of the shadow agent known as "the mass" during a critical period in European history. It follows its evolution into the preferred conceptual tool for social scientists, the ideal slogan for politicians, and the chosen image for artists and writers trying to capture a society in flux and a people in upheaval. This volume is the second installment in Stefan Jonsson's epic study of the crowd and the mass in modern Europe, building on his work in A Brief History of the Masses, which focused on monumental artworks produced in 1789, 1889, and 1989.
  • Table of Contents
  • List of Illustrations
  • Preface
  • 1. INTRODUCING THE MASSES: Vienna, 15 July 1927
    • 1. Shooting Psychosis
    • 2 Not a Word About the Bastille
    • 3. Explaining the Crowd
    • 4. Representing Social Passions
    • 5. A Work of Madness
    • 6. Invincibles
    • 7. Mirror for Princes
    • 8. Workers on the Run
    • 9. Lashing
  • 2. AUTHORITY VERSUS ANARCHY: Allegories of the Mass in Sociology and Literature
    • 10. The Missing Chapter
    • 11. George Simmel's Masses
    • 12. In Metropolis
    • 13. The Architecture of Society
    • 14. Steak Tartare
    • 15. Delta Formations
    • 16. Alarm Bells of History
    • 17. Sleepwalkers
    • 18. I Am Mass
    • 19. Rilke in the Revolution
  • 3. THE REVOLVING NATURE OF THE SOCIAL: Primal Hordes and Crowds Without Qualities
    • 20. Sigmund Freud Between Individual and Society
    • 21. Masses Inside
    • 22. In Love With Many
    • 23. Primal Hordes
    • 24. Masses and Myths
    • 25. The Destruction of the Person
    • 26. The Flaneur - Medium of Modernity
    • 27. Ornaments of the People
    • 28. Beyond the Bourgeoisie
    • 29. Shapeless Lives
    • 30. Organizing the Passions
  • 4. COLLECTIVE VISION: A Matrix for New Art and Politics
    • 31. Mass Psychosis and Photoplastics
    • 32. Johanna in the Revolution
    • 33. A Socialist Eye
    • 34. The Secret Code of the Nineteenth Century
    • 35. Speaking Commodities
    • 36. Deus Ex Machina
    • 37. Democracy's Veil
    • 38. The Face of the Masses
    • 39. Learning to Hold a Camera
    • 40. The Gaze of the Masses
    • 41. Total Theater
  • 5. Coda: Remnants of Weimar
  • Notes
  • Index

Subjects

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

By subscribing, you accept our Privacy Policy