The ideas le Bon explores in this book are extremely relevant to today's society and were of pivotal importance in the early years of group psychology. Applications include financial market behaviour and political delusions. In this clear and vivid book, Gustave Le Bon throws light on the unconscious irrational workings of a group thought and mass emotion as he places crowd ideology in opposition to free-thinking and independent minded individuals. He shows how the behaviour of an individual changes when part of the crowd. Le Bon concludes his work with a prophetic vision of the destruction of civilization.