p.27
An arena is a doubly closed crowd. It is closed off from the surrounding city. This encapsulation ensures that the crowd both time and space with which to create its own rules and activities. It is also closed in on itself. The seats form a ring which cannot be broken without disprupting and leading to the dispersion of the crowd. One side of the arena faces the other, so the crowd is watching itself as a faceless blur of people on the other side. The only features visible are movement and raw emotion.

Attributes of crowds
1- always wants to grow
2- within a crowd there is equality
3- the crowd loves density
4- the crowd needs direction

Rhythmic vs. stagnating crowds:
In rhythmic crowds, density and equality exist from the start. Everything rests on movement.
The stagnating crowd lives for discharge, but it can’t wait. It starts with density and moves to equality.

Slow vs. quick crowds – these distinctions refer to the nature of the goal:
Slow crowds include religious crowds and pilgrims, both of which have very distant goals.
Quick crowds include political, sporting, and war-like crowd, all of which have immediate goals.

Classifications of crowds according to prevailing emotion:

p.49
The baiting crowd’s goal is to kill. It knows who it wants to kill, and cannot be cheated of its goal. The goal is the point of greatest density, where the actions of the participants unite. The final murder stands for all the murders which are not otherwise permitted of the individuals in the crowd. The murder deflects their own mortality onto the mortality of the murdered man. Reversal: one who had the power to kill (e.g. the king), has now been killed and made a commoner. Once dead, the dead man is one of them and the crowd therefore disperses – thus the tendency for authorities to give angry crowds a scapegoat to appease and disperse it.
p.52
Newspapers form a sort of baiting crowd, except the people never have to collect in physical space. Therefore it doesn’t have to disintegrate either. Papers form an irresponsible crowd since it has no sense of guilt or responsibility for the actions it observes.

p.53
Flight crowds: created by a threat. Danger is the same for all = equality. Nobody thinks they are the one who will be caught. They disperse away from the danger in all directions. The goal is safety and distance. Flight can last for days or weeks. Each person must not push others aside, or this crowd turns into a panic crowd, where people are out for themselves. Panic usually happens when direction of flow is impeded by obstacles, and this causes lateral movement.

p.55
Prohibition crowds area created by a refusal. Together, people refuse to do what they ordinarily had done willingly. Anyone who transgresses is outlawed by the others. In strikes, people are equal only in crowd, wheras otherwise they come from different backgrounds. A fictitious equality becomes real during strike. Strikes are contagious and spread to other sympathetic groups. Organization is key in keeping a strike going since the natural tendency of the people is to perform their usual function.

p.58
In reversal crowds, the sheep eat the wolves after having been eaten by the wolves for so long. This presupposes a stratified society. A sting is left in a person who carries out another’s orders. Once an order (and its accompanying sting) is received from above, people generally pass on the accompanying orders to others lower than them (if there are others who receive orders from them), or they return the sting they’ve received to their superiors as payback. Payback is only possible in a group.
Revolution is a form of reversal crowd. It seeks deliverance from a sting. Before they attack superiors, people attack those lower than them. Reversal crowds are often accompanied by baiting crowds, hunting individuals. Reversal is a longer term activity.
Religious reversal is the idea that “the least shall be first”. The poorest stand highest in heaven. This is a very long-term reversal. Also is a form of domestication – submission to God’s law. This is the opposite of the liberation by revolution, but also a reversal.

p.62
Feast crowds have abundance in a limited space – more than those present can consume, so more people are needed – growth. All are equal and can partake of it. People move to and fro in all directionsNormal prohibitions are generally loosened. The feast itself is the goal. Each feast leads to more future feasts. Earlier feasts are remembered by ritual dance and dramatic performances. Density of things and people promise more of life itself.

p.63
The double crowd. The surest way a crowd can preserve its own existence is in relation to another crowd. For examples, rivals in a game (individuals want to avoid shame), or war opponents (individuals resolve to defend themselves together). Individuals stand together – ensuring unity and causing increased density and vigilence. Both crowds must be perceived to be of equal number or strength or the lesser crowd disintegrates into mass flight or panic crowd.
Men and women form double crowd in primitive societies. For example, women dance war dance while men are away hunting. They act in reference to the absent other crowd.
Living and dead form double crowd. Dead are greater in number. The living cannot hope to win, thus explaining and individual’s death. The living must still fight to try to retain the person in the living although they know it is doomed. Some believe the dead souls are necessary for newborns to be born. Dead spirits also are thought to bring rain and food for the living.
p67
War. Goal is to transform the live adversary into a heap of dead. Slaves and captives increase one’s own number while diminishing the foe’s. Wars carry on well after defeat because crowds want to stick together. People are equal by shared threat of death. Killing others deflects one’s own mortality. Wars offer crowds the hope of a definite duration of life.

p.73
Crowd crystals are small rigid groups of people which serve to precipitate crowds. They are all about limits and consciousness of its every utterance and movement. Examples are orchestras and monks. Crystals can be comprehended at a glance – roles are obvious and familiar, individuals have clearly defined roles. Unity is more important than size. The members are always thought of as a group despite their individual professions, activities outside the crystal, etc. Group persists after individuals disperse – they often persist past their popularity, and can be revived many years later when times change, often after revolution. Crystals’ clarity, constancy, and isolation sit in contrast with that of the crowds that form around them. Uncontrollable growth and fear of desintegration do not affect crowd crystals like they do the surrounding crowd.
Closed crowds are different from crystals in size (larger), and are more spontaneous and not specified by individuals’ functions Closed crowds share the defined limits and repetition of crystals.

p.75
Crowd symbols are crowd like, but not composed of people. However, they are felt to be a crowd.

Fire: always the same, no matter how long or large. Contagious – spreads and wants to increase size. Can originate anywhere. Is multiple (i.e. made up of many flames). Is destructive – can be fought or tamed. Has an enemy – water.

p.80
Sea: multiple – dense and cohesive collection of waves. Waves yield to others as if they were oneself. Has a voice that sounds like a thousand voices. Is persistent – makes itself heard and never sleeps. Has constancy that a crowd lacks. Expresses desire of a crowd to stay together. Growth – consumes rivers and more and more water.

p.81
Rain: felt as a unit most strongly just before it rains. Drops fall in one direction. Sameness in drops and parallel lines of falling. Not as constant as sea, and not contagious like fire. Rain is crowd in moment of discharge and stands as signal of disintegration. Cloud has fallen apart. Who knows when it will reconvene again.

p.83
Rivers: striking in its direction. Absorbs other smaller streams in its flow. But cannot grow indefinitely or unexpectedly. Stands for processions of people, like demonstrations. Lack contagiousness of fire or universality of sea. A river is the crowd exhibiting itself – there is no river without banks (spectators).

p.84
Forest: is higher than man. Density consists of foliage – man has to look up to see the dense canopy. Equality consists only in uniformity of direction – up. Looking up at forest is preparation for looking up in church. Forest is symbol of army – immoveable – can be cut down, but not shifted.

p.85
Corn: is a diminished and subjugated forest under mans’ control. Uniform in height and fate (all sown together). Equality before death.

p.86
Wind: its voice varies with its strength – lives and dies like humans. Direction is always changing. Equivalent to an invisible crowd – roaring like spirits angry or in flight. Flags are wind made visible – make air seem as if its one’s own.

Sand: striking when grains are amassed together. Individually, grains are small and equal. Sand is always shifting. Suffocating like swarms of tiny enemies. Symbol of progeny and quantity of men rather than quality.

The heap: celebrated in feasts. Collections of things – all of one kind – grain, rice, etc. Density indicates success. Time of existence is limited – depleted, repleted frequently.

p.88
Stone heap: inedible and immoveable. Erected precisely for their permanence. Represent rhythmic exertion of many men in their creation (e.g. pyramids). Each stone represents a man.

Treasure: inedible and unperishable. Each unit has special value. Prestige also carries danger of others who want it. Greed which unites people rests on a confidence and commitment to the value of the units. Depreciation is like a flight crowd – men are depreciated, not money.

p.93
The Pack – a primitive form of the crowd and crowd crystals. Still permeate groups today.
Equality and direction really exist.
Growth and density are imagined.

Hunting pack: many men take down animal they could not catch alone. This leads to distribution of spoils among all even if only a few actually killed the animal. The prey behavior determines the behavior of the pack.

War pack: often focused on hunting one man, like a hunting pack, but often formed of loosely joined people, not a tribe as in the hunting pack.

Lamenting pack: forms to lament death of member. Each individual must be preserved or his life taken back from the dead. Members jump on the dead man to form a heap – joining him because he can’t join them.

Increase packs: intent to increase. Rites of ceremony symbolize dissatisfaction with number. Dressing like animals symbolizes the desire to achieve the large numbers of that animal. Totems identify men with an animal. Good fortune for animal means good fortune for men.

Categorizations of packs

Inward vs. outward packs
Inward packs include lamenting and increase packs. These circle around one man or a ceremony.
Outward packs include hunting and war packs. These are focused on capturing something external to the pack.

Tranquil vs. noisy packs
Tranquil packs include increase packs. They focus on some expectation, using concentration and stillness.
Noisy packs include hunting, war, and lamenting packs. For these, noise is important.

p.180
Germany. Unusual case of army as a closed crowd. Prussian Junker caste served as crowd crystals – this was the major source of officers for WWI. Closed crowd army was dissolved in Treaty of Versaille. Denied closed crowds long to form open crowds. Hitler fulfilled this need.

p.313
Soldiers: act in uniform manner. Participate in drills, but generally do not form crowds. If you seperate an individual soldier, they are expected to act the same as when they are in a group – different from crowds.

p.394
Orchestra: subservient to conductor. Is seated but conductor is standing. Conductor transforms individuals into a coherent group. The audience stops moving/talking when conductor appears even though they don’t do the same for the orchestra. Conductor must not turn around, or he will break the spell of the audience. Conductor leads players like a master, audience feels through him.

p.387
Standing: is sign of independence. Indicates superiority over four-legged animals. Done for a long time, it indicates endurance, like a forest. If there’s space between the man and the surrounding people it indicates power, especially if he is facing the others. Standing is a transition point to all other postures, and is thus the most adaptable posture.

p.389
Sitting: historically is a sign of privilege, especially if others are standing. Does not easily lead to other postures, so also leads to the expectation of staying seated for a long time. Getting up involves an obvious intent to change the current social arrangement. Sitting exerts pressure onto something else – a chair which is like a slave supporting weight.

p.390
Lying down: indicates disarmament and vulnerability. One withdraws into oneself. Thus it is startling to see someone go from standing (independence, control) to lying (vulnerability) quickly. The opposite transition proves how alive one is. Lying/falling down indicates an ill, wounded man.

p.393
Sitting and squatting on the ground: indicates absence of need, turning in on oneself. Contentment, self-containment, like a sac. Contains both wealth and poverty in same message.

p.394
Kneeling: active powerlessness (as opposed to lying down, which is passive powerlessness). Supplication, offering of one’s neck to a superior. Form of flattery, indulging another’s sense of power.