Mass consciousness is a collective concept that unites the consciousness of a significant part of people. For example, this is very important for politics, because it determines the majority. This consciousness is characterized by the collection of opinions of participants with a specific purpose, idea or other aspect of interests. The current political science and sociology see in the "mass" a number of specific features. One of the distinguishing features of this set is its mixed composition. Mass consciousness is one of the most important channels for influencing people and, consequently, manipulating them.
Mass consciousness and public opinion
Public opinion is the public expression of personal opinions by a significant part of the population who intended to influence politicians and the press. More recently, a new research methodology has emerged, the so-called public opinion poll or anonymous questioning. The first is where he used the pre-election race in politics. The results of the survey were striking, and the accuracy was checked by the results of the elections. Public opinion is often like a mass consciousness.
Psychology of mass consciousness
Even Darwin argued that a person needs a society, as a necessary environment for the formation of personality . Mass psychology considers every individual a part of the crowd, which was organized for a certain purpose. In this situation, people have a primary urge to wake up, which in another scenario will never manifest. In this situation, a person can commit completely uncharacteristic actions.
Le Bon, in his book The Psychology of the Masses, argued that when a person enters the crowd, he disappears as an individual and becomes part of the mass that is born as a new being with other qualities. The crowd equally affects all people regardless of age, social status and religious views.
The psychology of mass consciousness affects individuals as follows:
- Each individual feels the power of the whole crowd and considers himself omnipotent, performing unpredictable actions.
- Actions in the crowd are manifested with such force that people sacrifice their interests for the sake of the interests of the crowd.
- People have special qualities that are very different from nature. The conscious personality is completely lost, the will and the ability to distinguish are absent, all sentiments are directed to the direction indicated by the principal in the crowd.
Freud believed that when a person begins to belong to a crowd, he descends the ladder of civilization.
Managing Mass Consciousness
Freud, and then Jung asserted that the crowd rests on only one unconscious facet. Mass consciousness resembles a complex social phenomenon, impulses that are strong enough to drown out other qualities of the individual. The crowd believes that nothing is impossible. Mass consciousness has neither fear nor doubt. Manipulation of mass consciousness occurs constantly, for this purpose the crowd gathers. It is in this state that people easily pass
Individual and mass consciousness
Consciousness of an individual person, which reflects only his personal state, is called individual. Several such consciousnesses form a mass one, which is necessary for different social groups for existence in everyday life. Studies have shown that mass consciousness has received some transformations, but the basic signs have remained unchanged.