Durkheim: LeBon's Sociological Counterpart
Durkheim was an intellectual, caught between liberalism
and reactionaries. Like the reactionaries, Durkheim saw a moral
crisis in the modern world. He seriously questioned whether
France would survive in the wake of the rapid changes, the
political instability and the violence that characterized the period
1789-1871.
The Protracted Struggle between Liberal Enlightenment and
Reactionaries was particularly protracted in France.
In eighty-two years (three generations) there were:
- two revolutions and one revolutionary situation
- three monarchies
- two empires
- three republics
Consider the experience of three political generations:
- 1789-1815: Durkheim’s grandparents
- monarchy until July 1789
- republic, 1789-1802
- empire, 1802-1815: Napoloeon I (Bonaparte)
- monarchy re-established in 1815
- 1815-1852: Durkheim’s parents
- monarchy re-established in 1815: Bourbon/Legitimists
- New monarchy established in 1830:Orleans (Louis
Phillipe)
- republic, 1848-1852
- New empire established in 1852: Napoleon III
- 1852-1871: Durkheim’s generation
- empire, 1852-1870: Napoleon III
- republic 1870: Thiers
- German occupation in 1871
- Commune in 1871 when Germans withdraw, March
1871
- Republic re-established when commune defeated in
May 1871
Durkheim was born in 1858, during the Second Empire of
Napoleon III. He was 13 years old during the Commune. He
lived through the Third Republic. Before he died in 1917 he
witnessed the German invasion of France, the failure of socialdemocracy in Germany, World War I, and the rise of
communism in Russia.
LeBon was born in 1841 (during the Orleans monarchy).
He was seven during the revolution of 1848. He was eleven
when Napolean III seized power and was 30 during the brief but
spectacular Commune. He outlived Durkheim (dying in 1931).
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Why Read LeBon?
I. His work is a classic statement of the collective behavior
tradition of social movements
A. He is extremely conservative (and reminds me of
Durkheim in many ways)
1. convinced that science is objective pursuit of
truth
a. objectivity (p.iii)
b. pursuit of laws that are knowable but
unknown (p. vi)
2. counsels slow change (pp. iv, x-xiii, 46)
3. has very low opinion of common people,
individually or collectively
4. accepts that enlightenment institutions (e.g.,
juries: see p. 114) are no worse than what
precedes or follows
You might note that he is also sexist and racist, but he
differs from Durkheim and resembles Spencer in his
evolutionary and reductionist model of society as the expression
of the race. In fact, this goes beyond Spencer, who was
something of a behaviorist. LeBon is more of what we would
now call a psycho-biologist: see quotes on pp. 46, 49, 51.
Where LeBon differs in this regard from Spencer and Durkheim
is that he (LeBon) in a psychologist rather than a sociologist.
His evolutionary model of society (unlike Spencer) does not
involve progress but cycles. It seems that the cycle from
barbarism to empire to republic and then back to barbarism (p.
139) mirrors the cycle of human life (from birth to death).
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Nevertheless, like Durkheim (but unlike Spencer), LeBon
views religion as the base for society (p. 41).
B. He views collective behavior as "social" (action
that differs from individual behavior because of the
influence of others)
1. mental unity (p. 2); collective mind (p. 4)
2. sense of power/invincibility (p. 6)
3. contagion (pp 6-7)
4. suggestibility (p. 7, 14-21)
5. impulsivity (p. 8)
6. lack of individual self-interest/judgement (p. 9,
28)
C. He views collective behavior as irrational (pp. 33-4,
38)
1. impulsive, unconscious motives (p. 11)
2. exaggerated sentiments (p. 22)
3. traditionalism (p. 33, 45-46
D. He views collective behavior as inspired by (p. 44)
1. remote factors (generalized beliefs: see
Smelser)
2. immediate factors (pp. 60-66)
3. mass leaders (pp. 72-76)
4. mass communication (pp. 77-81)
a. affirmation
b. repetition
c. contagion
5. mass beliefs
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a. prestige (pp. 81-89)—see Weber on
charisma; Durkheim on sacred/profane
b. fixed beliefs (pp. 89-93): see Comte and
Durkheim
c. changeable opinions (pp. 94-99)
II. LeBon Suggests that the Late 19th Century is the Age of
the Crowd
A. His classification of crowds includes all modern
political, social and economic institutions (p. 101)
1. anonymous crowds: people in streets or
shopping centers
2. juries, legislatures, committees
3. castes and classes
B. His treatment of grassroots versus institutional
politics suggests very little difference between the
two
1. here he differs from 20th century collective
behavior theories
2. although he is quite far from collective action
theories
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