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 …
Gustave Le Bon
Author details
- Aliases:
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Густаў Лебон, غوستاف لوبون،, 古斯塔夫·勒庞, and 56 others
Bon, Gustab Le Mpon, غوستاف لوبون, Гюстав Лебон, Ghūstāv Lū Būn, لوبون، جوستاف, Густав Льобон, Густав Лебон, Gustav LeBon, بون، جوستاف لو،, Г Лебон, Charles Marie Gustave Le Bon, 귀스타브 르 봉, Gustave LeBon, Gustav Lebon, لوبون، غوستاڤ،, Gustaw le Bon, گوستاو لوبون, Gustavs Le Bons, ليبون، غوستاف, Gustave Le Bon, Ghūstāf Lū Būn, Гюстав Ле Бон, Gkustab Le Mpon, Gustavo le Bon, Le Bon, Гистав ле Бон, Ле Бон, Густав Ле Бон, Gustavo Le Bon, Gustave Lebon, ليون، جوستاف،, G. Le Bon, Gustavo LeBon, لوبون، جوستاف،, Gustave le Bon, ギュスターヴ・ル・ボン, لوبون، غوستاف, لوبون، غوستاف،, غوستاف لو بون, Ġūstāf Lū Būn, Gustaw Le Bon, Gustāv Lī Bān, Лебон, ギュスターヴ ル・ボン, جوستاف لو بون،, جوستاف لوبون, Gustab LeMpon, גוסטב לה בון, لو بون، غوستاف،, Gustavas Lebonas, Gustab Lempon, لبون، غوستاف, Gustav Le Bon, بون، جوستاف،, Gostave Le Bon - Born:
- Jan. 25, 1841
- Died:
- Jan. 25, 1931
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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. 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.
