HOMOGENEOUS CROWDS


Homogeneous crowds include: 1. Sects; 2. Castes; 3. Classes.





The SECT represents the first step in the process of organisation

of homogeneous crowds. A sect includes individuals differing

greatly as to their education, their professions, and the class

of society to which they belong, and with their common beliefs as

the connecting link. Examples in point are religious and

political sects.<
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The CASTE represents the highest degree of organisation of which

the crowd is susceptible. While the sect includes individuals of

very different professions, degrees of education and social

surrounding, who are only linked together by the beliefs they

hold in common, the caste is composed of individuals of the same

profession, and in consequence similarly educated and of much the

same social status. Examples in point are the military and

priestly castes.



The CLASS is formed of individuals of diverse origin, linked

together not by a community of beliefs, as are the members of a

sect, or by common professional occupations, as are the members

of a caste, but by certain interests and certain habits of life

and education almost identical. The middle class and the

agricultural class are examples.



Being only concerned in this work with heterogeneous crowds, and

reserving the study of homogeneous crowds (sects, castes, and

classes) for another volume, I shall not insist here on the

characteristics of crowds of this latter kind. I shall conclude

this study of heterogeneous crowds by the examination of a few

typical and distinct categories of crowds.



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