How Crowd Psychology Made the Modern World, with Dan Hancox

Welcome to Intelligence Squared, where great minds meet. I'm head of programming Connor Boyle. Our guest today is Dan Hancock's, the journalist whose new book looks at the psychology of the crowd and how crowd thinking has shaped history. The book is called Multitudes, How Crowds Made the Modern World. And joining him to discuss it is Adam McCauly, the writer and researcher studying the social, cultural, and political impacts of emerging technologies. He also writes a regular newsletter, The Vie From Here. Let's join Adam in conversation with Dan Hancock's now. What do the G twenty protests, football matches, and the Notting Hill Carnival have in common?

The short answer appears simple. These are spaces where large groups of people meet. But something more profound and uniquely human occurs amidst the rhythmic chants, home club anthems, and spontaneous street parties. Today's guest argues that these events bringing diverse individuals together are some of the most direct and physical expressions of democracy that we have. Amidst the alchemy of these crowded, complicated, ecstatic, and sometimes even dangerous gatherings.

The world, our modern world, is made and remade anew. To explore this further, I'm pleased to welcome Dan Hancock's Dan is a journalist who regularly writes on society, history, and politics for The Guardian and The Observer, The New York Times, the London Review of Books, and The New Statesman. He's the author of Inner City Pressure, the story of Grime. And the village against the world.

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