> At 01:12 PM 6/7/2010, c b wrote:
>
>> CB: Yes, I know such comes up here now and again, but I usually think
>> of it as a form of cussing, expression of exasperation, not a serious
>> claim that someone is insane.
>
> That's not the point. The idea is that a collective can share delusional beliefs and behavior.
>
>> Hitler seems to have been insane, but we don't usually explain the rise of the Nazis due to Hitler's mental
>> illness.
>
> Shouldn't we use whatever applies to understand things? No one is claiming "paranoid style" as a monocausal explanation.
Mass / group psychological phenomena have been studied fairly extensively within social psychology. I just found a fascinating rough typology in an older soc-psych textbook I have on the shelf:
'According to Brown (1954) mobs may be distinguished in terms of their predominant behavior tendency. "Aggressive" mobs are bent on the destruction of individuals or property - lynchings, riots, and so on. When faced with extreme danger, groups of individuals may panic and thereby take on the character of an "escape" mob. Mobs may also be "acquisitive" in their orientation as exemplified by the "bank run," or the rush of housewives [sic] to secure foods believed to be in low supply. Finally, groups of individuals, primarily involved in emotional release are characterized as "expressive" mobs; an example is the religious revival.' (Proshansky H. & Seidenberg B., Basic Studies in Social Psychology. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., p. 611)
Such a framework would seem even *more* applicable to nation-states than to mobs, since in the former there are institutionalized bases for collective identity and shared beliefs (founding myths and documents, official and unofficial rituals of state, etc.) as well as "official" communications channels, etc.
Someone posted links to the "Century of the Self" doccie on the "legacy" of Freud's nephew Ed Bernays a few weeks ago. It's four fairly hefty downloads (~165MB each) but well worth watching for anyone who hasn't. I think it's also pretty devastating to any attempts at keeping the psychological and the political distinct.