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“Panic”: The impact of Le Bon's crowd psychology on U.S. military thought
Author(s) -
Bendersky Joseph W.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of the history of the behavioral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1520-6696
pISSN - 0022-5061
DOI - 10.1002/jhbs.20239
Subject(s) - panic , psychology , psychoanalysis , crowd psychology , panic disorder , social psychology , psychiatry , anxiety
The controversial crowd psychology of Gustave Le Bon has been both praised as an incisive contribution to social theory and also condemned as a doctrine of irrationality and mass manipulation associated with fascism. New archival documentation now demonstrates that Le Bon exercised significant influence on U.S. military thinking and practice through World War II. Army writings and officer training on morale, leadership, and battlefield psychology rested substantially on his theory of crowds, particularly regarding races and panic. Le Bon's racial psychology took on additional importance when the African‐American 92nd Infantry Division panicked during combat in Italy. This new evidence offers an excellent case study of the direct and enduring impact of a peculiar type of social psychology on the institutional culture of the army from the classrooms at the Army War College to the battlefield itself. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.