Crowds and Power

Drawing on Elias Canetti’s 1960 publication ‚Masse und Macht‘ (Mass and Power), Clemens von Wedemeyer examines the phenomenon of mass formation, the representation of masses, and their political and psychological effects.

›Now that I’ve read it again, I recognize Canetti’s subjective point of view and can see it in comparison with other authors on mass psychology, but at the time, I took his theses on crowd behavior for granted. He’s emphasizing a division – you have the individual, and then you have the crowd, where an individual is no longer a valid point for research. A group becomes an entity, and Canetti describes the different types in terms of how they grow, transform or discharge. Canetti refers to the 20th century, especially the situation between the wars in Germany and under the Nazis – that’s what he witnessed. The book was published in 1960. The question for me is – what happened after 1960? With the images of crowds? And what’s the difference now, what’s the new specificity?‹ – Clemens von Wedemeyer | read more at Arsenale