Elias Canetti's book "Mass and Power": summary, analysis reviews

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

The whole adult life of the philosopher was filled with this book. Since he began to live in England, Canetti has almost always worked on this book. Was it worth the effort? Maybe the world did not see other works of the author? But according to the thinker himself, he did what he had to do. They were allegedly controlled by a certain force, the nature of which is difficult to understand.

Meaning of the book

E. Canetti worked on this work for thirty years. In a sense, the book "Mass and Power" continued the work of the French sociologist, physician Gustave Le Bon. In addition, she continues the thoughts of the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasta, expressed in a work called "The Revolt of the Masses". These fruitful works expressed the psychological, social, philosophical and political moments in the behavior of the public masses and their role in the functioning of society. What is the meaning of the research conducted by Elias Canetti? Mass and Power is the book of his entire life. He wrote it for a very long time. What motivatedgreat thinker, what was his main question?

The emergence of an idea

The philosopher's first thought appeared in 1925. But according to the author himself, the germ of this idea arose during the Frankfurt demonstrations of workers after the death of von Rathenau. Then Canetti was 17 years old.

Several nonfiction books, travel notes, memoirs, aphorisms were published by Elias Canetti. "Mass and Power" is different from all his works. The book is the meaning of his life. He had high hopes for her. So said Canetti himself in his diary entries (1959).

During the time of writing, the philosopher has undergone a lot. But even at the very beginning, the forthcoming book was announced very ambitiously in order to “fasten” to it more firmly. All the author's acquaintances pushed for the speedy completion of the work. They have lost faith in their friend. In the author's soul there was no anger at his friends. So said Elias Canetti himself. "Mass and Power" was published in 1960. Undoubtedly, this is the largest work of the author. He considered the dialectical relationship between the problems of mass and power.

What are the similarities and differences with other thinkers?

It is believed that labor has much in common with a similar work by Z. Freud "Psychology of the masses and analysis of the Self." Here the scientist turns his attention to the role of the leader in the process of mass formation and the gradual process of identifying a certain group of people, his personal "I", with the image of the leader. However, the work that Elias Canetti created ("Mass and Power"),differs from Freud's. The root of the study is the action of the mental mechanism of the individual taken separately and what causes it to be absorbed by the mass. Canetti is interested in the problem of protection from death, as a primitive defense against which is the form of functioning of power and the behavior of the masses. After all, death prevails over everyone equally, both over those in power and over people united in the masses.

View from different angles

Scientist and psychologist Z. Freud, whose books are so widely known, looks at this problem from a slightly different angle. He saw the basis of the process of nominating leaders in the subconscious, in the desire of people for a kind of father-leader. The thinker believed that the suppression of sexual desire can lead to transformation into leadership, domination, and even sadism. In this case, neurasthenia may arise, which will become a prerequisite for the search for ways of self-affirmation and the desire for leadership in various areas of a person's life.

So thought Freud. Canetti's books are a bit different. This is a discourse on the causes of death and immortality. Reading them, one gets the impression that one can cope with it and not die at all. However, in 1994, Elias Canetti left this world, refuting his own theory of immortality. Canetti saw death not as a natural phenomenon, but as a manifestation of ideology. To him, Freud's death instinct thanatos seemed ridiculous.

Control mechanism

Besides ideology, for a philosopher, death is the main tool that regulates the behavior of the masses by managers (authorities). He is verythought about it a lot. The book is a kind of exposure of the authorities. The fight against death, with such a concept as a fundamental attraction to it, Canetti associated with opposition to the management system that uses such tools. He believed that death was already influential enough. Therefore, it is not necessary to unnecessarily emphasize its superiority. She should be expelled from everywhere where she only managed to sneak, to resist her in everything, so that she could not have a negative impact on society and its morale. These are the conclusions that come to mind when analyzing the book Mass and Power.

It's not like Elias Canetti hasn't seen death at all. He just wanted to consider it separately from everything accepted acceptable in society. This is due to the fact that people have forgotten that death was not always natural for them. Among some peoples, even until relatively recently, it was considered unnatural. Every death was treated as a murder. Death is what power parasitizes and feeds on. This is the mechanism that helps to manipulate people. Elias Canetti thought so.

"Mass and Power": reviews

The perception of this philosophical work is varied. For some, the book is easy to read and understand, but for someone, on the contrary, it is difficult. Many believe that in this work the author described quite complex things in a very easy and accessible way. Thanks to the book, you can understand how people are manipulated. It reveals such social phenomena as the lust for power and human desirerun into the crowd. The work describes the desire for heroism and many other points. The author may seem somewhat cynical, but it is worth noting that this cynicism is somewhat justified.

New look

For the society of the XX century, the fundamental ideas of Canetti were completely new. Although the world lives in the 21st century, the book remains relevant. After reading the work, reviews remain, saying that she has a great future. Perhaps people, thinking about the problem of mass and power, will eventually reconsider their views, and much of what their minds are endowed with now will be discarded as unnecessary.

Canetti covers the phenomenon of mass and power in a completely new, frank and original way. There is such a thing as social distance. In other words, it is expressed as a fear of touch, when a person avoids contact with strangers, keeps a certain distance from them. In the mass, all such fears go away, and distances are eliminated. The person is psychologically discharged. Here one person is equal to another.

What is the meaning of the phenomenon?

Massa lives a special life. She is already becoming an integral being, endowed with her own laws.

The authorities have their own phenomenon - survival. The ruler survives even when others perish. He stands above all, whether the living dead, dead friends or slain enemies. This is a hero. The more of those whom he survived, the more majestic the ruler and the more "god-like" he is. True leaders are always keenly aware of thisregularity. That is why they find the mechanisms of their elevation. The threat of death is the main tool for mass control, and the fear of death is the motivation for the execution of any order. The voice of power, like the roar of a lion, terrifying and fleeing a herd of antelopes.

In some chapters of the book, the author reveals the initial connection between the thinking of the ruler and the paranoid, in whom domination is such a strong obsession that it develops into a painful state. However, both are ways of implementing the same idea. Canetti universalizes the patterns of relations between mass and power, substantiates their fundamental nature.

Of course, the problem of the functioning of power and the behavior of the masses worries the minds of many scientists, philosophers, psychologists, sociologists, political scientists, public figures, writers and many other categories of citizens. But Canetti analyzed the very origin of power relations. He drew attention to the primary manifestations of human nature: food, tactile sensations, imagination and fear of death. The writer is trying to recognize the very root of the origin of the moment of subjugation of the masses to their leaders. He draws a parallel between leadership and paranoia, analyzes Freudian teachings and draws his own conclusions.

The main characters of the work

In general, it is believed that the book "Mass and Power" (Elias Canetti), a summary of which can be understood from the above, is useful and recommended for study. One might add that, reading the title,you see, as it were, two heroes of the work. In fact, there are three of them: mass, power and death. The book is about their interaction and confrontation. Death acts as a mediator, bringing dynamism to the interaction of mass and power. And, as you know, these two categories are the main ones in the history of mankind. If it were not for the third category, called death, power would not exist. So says Elias Canetti. The books of this author are quite widely known in the world. The main subject of Canetti's study is society and its masses. The work "Mass and Power" examines and exposes the methods and ways of manipulating the public, which are used by those in power to achieve personal goals. The book is about how power is exercised, about its hellish kitchen, where ordinary people are not allowed. It is hard to believe in the existence of this very cuisine, but all the great rulers, leaders and commanders use its recipes. And it doesn't matter, according to ready-made algorithms or just on a whim, driven by an intuitive, unmistakable instinct. This is how history is made.

Features of the piece

The book cannot be classified as academic research. This is closer to the records of an independent author who is outside of society and is trying to explain to a person like himself the principles of crowd formation and methods of manipulating it. The work is endowed with poetry and an expression of the author's personal attitude to the problem raised.

This work is important for understanding the emergence of European movements. However, there are some research points in the book. The philosopher studies the growth and strength of the crowd, the possibility of redirecting it tocurrent official government. Therefore, the work is relevant at all times. It provides ground for understanding the psychology of society in states dominated by authoritarian power.

Elias Canetti was awarded the Nobel Prize. This event took place in 1981. The award was given for works of broad outlook, richness of ideas and artistic power.