View source for Crowd

{{short description|Group who have gathered for a common purpose or intent}}
{{About|gatherings of people in general|adolescent peer groups|Crowds (adolescence)|other uses}}
{{Multiple issues|{{more citations needed|date=May 2018}}
{{undue weight|date=May 2018|reason=Individuals' thoughts are mentioned, but it's not demonstrated that these are the mainstream views.}}}}
[[File:Crowd in street.jpg|thumb|A crowd of people returning from a show of fireworks spills into the street stopping traffic at the intersection of [[Fulton Street (Manhattan)|Fulton Street]] and Gold Street in [[Lower Manhattan]]]]
[[File:People watch the Battle of the Beach 2 - Far Rockaway Skatepark - September - 2019.jpg|thumb|A crowd watches the Battle of the Beach 2 – Far Rockaway Skatepark – September, 2019]]
[[File:July 4 crowd at Vienna Metro station.jpg|thumb|A crowd leaves the [[Vienna (WMATA station)|Vienna]] station on the [[Washington Metro]] in 2006.]]
A '''crowd''' is as a group of people that have gathered for a common purpose or intent. Examples are a [[Demonstration (people)|demonstration]], a [[Sport|sports event]], or a [[looting]] (classified in [[sociology]] as an acting crowd). A crowd may also simply be made up of many people going about their business in a busy area.

The term "the crowd" may sometimes refer to the lower orders of people in general.

==Terminology==
The term "crowd" is sometimes defined in contrast to other group nouns for collections of humans or animals, such as aggregation, audience, group, mass, mob, populous, public, rabble and throng.  Opinion researcher [[Vincent Price (educator)|Vincent Price]] compares masses and crowds, saying that "Crowds are defined by their shared emotional experiences, but masses are defined by their interpersonal isolation."<ref name="glynn">''Public Opinion'', by Carroll J. Glynn, Susan Herbst, Garrett J. O'Keefe, Robert Y. Shapiro {{ISBN?}} {{page?|date=December 2023}}</ref>

In human sociology, the term "mobbed" simply means "extremely [[wikt:crowded|crowded]]", as in a busy [[shopping mall|mall]] or shop. "[[Mobbing]]", carries a more negative connotation associated with [[bullying]]. In [[Mobbing (animal behavior)|animal behaviour]], mobbing is a technique where many individuals of one species "gang up" on a larger individual of another species to drive them away. {{citation needed|date=November 2020}} Mobbing behaviour is often seen in [[bird]]s.

==Social aspects==
[[File:Pohjoisesplanadi 1 - Helsinki 1924 - - hkm.HKMS000005-km0036ey.jpg|thumb|A crowd in front of the [[Presidential Palace, Helsinki|Presidential Palace]] on July 21, 1924, in [[Helsinki]], [[Finland]]]]
Social aspects are concerned with the formation, management and [[crowd control|control of crowds]], both from the point of view of individuals and groups. Often crowd control is designed to persuade a crowd to align with a particular view (e.g., [[Demonstration (people)|political rallies]]), or to contain groups to prevent damage or mob behaviour.  Politically organised crowd control is usually conducted by law enforcement but on some occasions military forces are used for particularly large or dangerous crowds.

According to Gustave Le Bon, an individual partaking in a crowd adopts certain characteristics such as a decreased ability to think consciously, a predominance of unconscious motives, succumbing easily to suggestion or contagion of feelings and ideas in a similar direction, and tend towards immediately bringing suggestions to action.<ref name="LeBon">{{cite book |last1=Le Bon |first1=Gustave |title=The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind |date=1897 |publisher=T.F. Unwin  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ip03UHMK5w8C|ref=2}}</ref> In his view, most crowds are impulsive, irritable, incapable of reasoning, lack judgement and are fueled by an exaggeration of sentiments.<ref name="LeBon"/> Crowds typically follow an individual or an individual that supports an idea or belief that they deem superior or credible. Le Bon identified two classes of leaders: those that are energetic and have a strength of will and those whose strength of will is enduring, though the latter is thought to be the most impactful.<ref name="LeBon"/> His ideology suggests that the leader should affirm, repeat the affirmation, and foster contagion within the crowd in order to have lasting effects.<ref name="LeBon"/>

==Psychological aspects==
{{main|Crowd psychology}}
Psychological aspects are concerned with the psychology of the crowd as a group and the psychology of those who allow their will and emotions to be informed by the crowd (both discussed more comprehensively under [[crowd psychology]]).

Many studies on crowds have given insights on how crowds respond to different situations. One 2009 report highlighted many observable behaviors of crowds,<ref name="cabinet">Challenger, R., Clegg, C. W., & Robinson, M. A. (2009). [http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/understanding-crowd-behaviours-documents Understanding crowd behaviours. Multi-volume report for the UK Government’s Cabinet Office]. London: Cabinet Office.</ref> including evidence that crowds are able to make united decisions regarding their direction and speed of movement, even if only a few of its members have the information required to make such decisions.<ref name="cabinet"/> The degree to which informed members can affect the crowd depends on their position within the group, with those in the crowd's core likely to have a greater influence.<ref name="cabinet"/>

Generally, researchers in crowd psychology have focused on the negative aspects of crowds,<ref name="Ref.1">{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of psychology|author1=Reicher, Stephen|publisher=American Psychological Association|year=2000|isbn=1-55798-650-9|editor=Alan E. Kazdin|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofps0000unse/page/374 374]–377|author-link=|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofps0000unse}}</ref> but not all crowds are volatile or negative in nature. For example, in the beginning of the socialist movement crowds were asked to put on their Sunday dress and march silently down the street. A more-modern example involves the sit-ins during the [[Civil Rights Movement]]. Crowds can reflect and challenge the held ideologies of their sociocultural environment. They can also serve integrative social functions, creating temporary communities.<ref name="Ref.3">{{cite book|title=Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology|last=Greenberg|first=M.S.|year=2010}}{{ISBN?}}</ref><ref name="Ref.1" />

=== Types of crowd ===
{{main|Crowd psychology#Types}}

[[File:Antifas.jpg|thumb|[[Anarchism|Anarchist]] crowd during a [[protest]] in Mexico City]]
There is limited research into the types of crowd and crowd membership and there is no consensus as to the classification of types of crowds. Two recent scholars, Momboisse (1967)<ref>Momboisse, Raymond. ''Riots, Revolts, and Insurrection''. Springfield, Ill. Charles Thomas. 1967. {{ISBN?}}</ref> and Berlonghi (1995)<ref>Berlonghi, Alexander E. "Understanding and planning for different spectator crowds". [[Safety Science]]. Volume 18, Number 4, February 1995, pp.&nbsp;239–247</ref> focused upon purpose of existence to differentiate among crowds. Momboisse developed a system of four types: casual, conventional, expressive, and aggressive. Berlonghi classified crowds as spectator, demonstrator, or escaping, to correlate to the purpose for gathering.

Other sociologists distinguished four types of crowds: casual, conventional, expressive, and acting.<ref name="Blumer">{{cite book |last1=Blumer |first1=Herbert |title=Collective Behavior. |date=1939 |publisher=Barnes & Noble |location=New York |pages=219–280 |edition=In Robert E. Park, Ed., An Outline of the Principles of Sociology.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Turner |first1=Ralph |last2=Killian |first2=Lewis |title=Collective Behavior |date=1993 |publisher=Prentice Hall |location=Englewood Cliffs, NJ |edition=4th |ref=9}}</ref> Casual crowds consists of people aggregated in the same place informally such as a coffee shop. There are also conventional crowds or those that come together for a regularly scheduled event including a church service and expressive crowds that meet to partake in an emotional time together like a wedding or funeral. Lastly, there are acting crowds that join to achieve a common goal or action, which could involve participating in a protest or riot.

Crowds can be active (mobs) or passive (audiences). Active crowds can be further divided into aggressive, escapist, acquisitive, or expressive mobs.<ref name="Ref.3" /> Aggressive mobs, which are common in [[riot]]s, are often violent and outwardly focused. Examples are football riots and the [[1992 Los Angeles riots|L.A. Riots]] of 1992. Escapist mobs are characterized by a large number of people trying to get out of a dangerous situation. Incidents involving crowds are often reported by media as the results of panic.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Feliciani |first1=Claudio |last2=Corbetta |first2=Alessandro |last3=Haghani |first3=Milad |last4=Nishinari |first4=Katsuhiro |date=2024-04-01 |title=How crowd accidents are reported in the news media: Lexical and sentiment analysis |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753524000134 |journal=[[Safety Science]] |volume=172 |pages=106423 |doi=10.1016/j.ssci.2024.106423 |arxiv=2309.14633 |s2cid=262824786 |issn=0925-7535}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Haghani |first1=Milad |last2=Lovreglio |first2=Ruggiero |date=2022-12-09 |title=Data-based tools can prevent crowd crushes |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adf5949 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=378 |issue=6624 |pages=1060–1061 |doi=10.1126/science.adf5949 |pmid=36480619 |bibcode=2022Sci...378.1060H |s2cid=254485601 |issn=0036-8075|url-access=subscription }}</ref> However, the scientific literature has explained how panic is a myth which is used to mislead the attention of the public from the real causes of crowd incidents such as [[Crowd crush|crowd crashes]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fahy |first1=Rita F. |last2=Proulx |first2=Guylène |last3=Aiman |first3=Lata |date=August 2012 |title=Panic or not in fire: Clarifying the misconception |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fam.1083 |journal=Fire and Materials |language=en |volume=36 |issue=5–6 |pages=328–338 |doi=10.1002/fam.1083 |s2cid=145326665 |issn=0308-0501 |author1-link=Rita Fahy |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Haghani |first1=Milad |last2=Cristiani |first2=Emiliano |last3=Bode |first3=Nikolai W. F. |last4=Boltes |first4=Maik |last5=Corbetta |first5=Alessandro |date=2019-08-08 |title=Panic, Irrationality, and Herding: Three Ambiguous Terms in Crowd Dynamics Research |journal=Journal of Advanced Transportation |language=en |volume=2019 |pages=e9267643 |doi=10.1155/2019/9267643 |doi-access=free |issn=0197-6729|hdl=11343/227617 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Haghani |first1=Milad |last2=Coughlan |first2=Matt |last3=Crabb |first3=Ben |last4=Dierickx |first4=Anton |last5=Feliciani |first5=Claudio |last6=van Gelder |first6=Roderick |last7=Geoerg |first7=Paul |last8=Hocaoglu |first8=Nazli |last9=Laws |first9=Steve |last10=Lovreglio |first10=Ruggiero |last11=Miles |first11=Zoe |last12=Nicolas |first12=Alexandre |last13=O'Toole |first13=William J. |last14=Schaap |first14=Syan |last15=Semmens |first15=Travis |date=2023-12-01 |title=A roadmap for the future of crowd safety research and practice: Introducing the Swiss Cheese Model of Crowd Safety and the imperative of a Vision Zero target |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753523002345 |journal=[[Safety Science]] |volume=168 |pages=106292 |doi=10.1016/j.ssci.2023.106292 |issn=0925-7535}}</ref> Acquisitive mobs occur when large numbers of people are fighting for limited resources. An expressive mob is any other large group of people gathering for an active purpose. Civil disobedience, rock concerts, and religious revivals all fall under this category.<ref name="Ref.3" />

==Movement dynamics==
Studies have shown that human crowds move in ways that resemble [[Fluid dynamics|fluid]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Henderson |first=L. F. |date=1974-12-01 |title=On the fluid mechanics of human crowd motion |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0041164774900276 |journal=Transportation Research |language=en |volume=8 |issue=6 |pages=509–515 |doi=10.1016/0041-1647(74)90027-6 |issn=0041-1647|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Helbing |first1=Dirk |last2=Molnár |first2=Péter |date=1995-05-01 |title=Social force model for pedestrian dynamics |url=https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.51.4282 |journal=Physical Review E |volume=51 |issue=5 |pages=4282–4286 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevE.51.4282|pmid=9963139 |arxiv=cond-mat/9805244 |bibcode=1995PhRvE..51.4282H |s2cid=5771125 }}</ref> and can be modeled by such methods as [[Smoothed-particle hydrodynamics|particle simulation]] and [[statistical physics]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Helbing |first1=Dirk |last2=Farkas |first2=Illés |last3=Vicsek |first3=Tamás |date=2000-09-28 |title=Simulating dynamical features of escape panic |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/35035023 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=407 |issue=6803 |pages=487–490 |doi=10.1038/35035023 |pmid=11028994 |issn=1476-4687|arxiv=cond-mat/0009448 |bibcode=2000Natur.407..487H |s2cid=310346 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Castellano |first1=Claudio |last2=Fortunato |first2=Santo |last3=Loreto |first3=Vittorio |date=2009-05-11 |title=Statistical physics of social dynamics |url=https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/RevModPhys.81.591 |journal=Reviews of Modern Physics |volume=81 |issue=2 |pages=591–646 |doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.81.591|arxiv=0710.3256 |bibcode=2009RvMP...81..591C |s2cid=118376889 }}</ref> Similar observations have been made for car traffic<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Helbing |first=Dirk |date=2001-12-07 |title=Traffic and related self-driven many-particle systems |url=https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/RevModPhys.73.1067 |journal=Reviews of Modern Physics |volume=73 |issue=4 |pages=1067–1141 |doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.73.1067|arxiv=cond-mat/0012229 |bibcode=2001RvMP...73.1067H |s2cid=119330488 }}</ref> and the movement of ant aggregations.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tennenbaum |first1=Michael |last2=Liu |first2=Zhongyang |last3=Hu |first3=David |last4=Fernandez-Nieves |first4=Alberto |date=2015-10-26 |title=Mechanics of fire ant aggregations |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nmat4450 |journal=Nature Materials |language=en |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=54–59 |doi=10.1038/nmat4450 |pmid=26501413 |issn=1476-4660|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Zhongyang |last2=Hyatt |first2=John |last3=Mlot |first3=Nathan |last4=Gerov |first4=Michael |last5=Fernandez-Nieves |first5=Alberto |last6=Hu |first6=David |date=2013-11-01 |title=Ants cushion applied stress by active rearrangements |journal=APS Division of Fluid Dynamics Meeting Abstracts |url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013APS..DFDR11004L |pages=R11.004|bibcode=2013APS..DFDR11004L }}</ref>

=== Crowd analysis ===
{{excerpt|Crowd analysis}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Society|}}
{{Columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Agent-based social simulation]]
* [[Collective animal behavior]]
* [[Crowd counting]]
* [[Crowd collapses and crushes]]
* [[Crowdfunding]]
* [[Crowd manipulation]]
* [[Crowd simulation]]
* [[Crowdsourcing]]
* [[Flocking (behavior)]]
* [[Group behaviour]]
* [[Herd behavior]]
* [[Community]]
}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources and further reading===
* {{citation |title=[[The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind]] |first=Gustave |last=Le Bon |author-link=Gustave Le Bon |year=1895}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=ip03UHMK5w8C&dq=The+Crowd++le+bon&pg=PR11 online]
* Borch, Christian. "The exclusion of the crowd: The destiny of a sociological figure of the irrational." ''European Journal of Social Theory'' 9.1 (2006): 83–102 .
* Feldberg, Michael. "The crowd in Philadelphia history: A comparative perspective." ''Labor History'' 15.3 (1974): 323–336.
* Hoggett, James, and Clifford Stott. "Crowd psychology, public order police training and the policing of football crowds." ''Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management'' (2010).{{ISBN?}}
* {{citation |title=The Crowd in History: A Study of Popular Disturbances in France and England, 1730–1848 |first=George |last=Rudé |publisher=Wiley |year=1964 |author-link=George Rudé}}{{ISBN?}}
* Rudé, George. "The London 'Mob' of the Eighteenth Century." ''Historical Journal'' 2#1 (1959): 1–18. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3020335 online]
* McClelland, John S. ''The Crowd and the Mob: From Plato to Canetti'' (Routledge, 2010).{{ISBN?}}
* {{citation |title=The Myth of the Madding Crowd |first=Clark |last=McPhail |publisher=Routledge |year=2017 |isbn=978-1351479073}}

==External links==
{{wiktionary|crowd}}
* [http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/understanding-crowd-behaviours-documents Understanding crowd behaviours]
{{Commons category|Crowds}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Crowds|*]]
[[Category:Social groups|*]]