HSOC-223: Crowds, Masses, Multitudes

Crowds are typical of modern urban experience: audiences and spectators, commuters and shoppers, protesters and believers all participate in the logic of the crowd. But what does it mean to join the masses, to be counted amongst the population, or to disappear into the multitude? At the turn of the twentieth century we understood the crowd as a dangerous figure to be feared and suppressed, but now we seem to have new categories of both 'crowd intelligence' and 'smart cities'. How should we understand the aesthetics and politics of the crowd today? This seminar course will look at the history and theory of crowds, cross-examining the group psychology of the modern masses with the urban biopolitics of population, circulation, and complexity. Through a range of historical and theoretical readings, the course will provide an interdisciplinary introduction to the crowd and its impact on our understanding of mass media, mass culture, and modern life.