Sociology / Unit 10 Soc 1779 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Crowd, Mass, and Public, Distinguished
Captions available
The idea
A crowd is people in close proximity; a mass shares an interest without closeness; a public shares ideas across a diffuse whole.
In practice
A concert crowd, online-game players as a mass, and scattered supporters of a position as a public illustrate the three.
Where people slip
A mass shares interests and a public shares ideas; collapsing the terms erases what each holds in common.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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