Gustave Le Bon

Les opinions et les croyances Gustave Le Bon

Though Le Bon repeats himself a great deal, this book on opinions and beliefs summarizes the fundamental principles of social psychology found in his other books, The Crowd, The Psychology of Socialism, and The Psychology of Peoples. The following extracts are designed to give his method and general conclusions. Belief is an act of faith of unconscious origin which forces us to admit in toto an idea, opinion, explanation, or doctrine... Knowledge is a conscious acquisition built up exclusively by rational methods, experience, and observation... Knowledge constitutes an essential element of civilization, the great factor in its material development. Belief determines the thoughts, opinions, and as a consequence the conduct... Opinions generally represent small beliefs more or less transitory. The book contains a great many suggestions of value to the student of social psychology. The distinction between the rational and affective is emphasized at the expense of their interdependence. This logic together with the author's assumption of the lack of rational powers on the part of the mass of the people supplies a psychological basis for his social philosophy of individualism. -Samuel N. Reep, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 18, No. 6, pp. 811-814.