Keyword: «clever crowd»

The twentieth century is considered to be the “century of crowds” (S. Moscovici). The whole series of studies is devoted to studying the phenomenon of the crowd, in which the crowd (mass) is presented in general as a “social animal” that needs taming. Today, the research of mass spontaneous behavior continues – with the only difference that a “negative” anthropology, based solely on distrust of the phenomenon, has been replaced by a “positive” one: the crowd, being an ambivalent phenomenon, being at the intersection of the individual and the collective, conscious and unconscious, can show different sides – to be both as "stupid" (mostly destructive), and "clever" (G. Reingold). A radical change in the view of the crowd as a social phenomenon, its revaluation was promoted by the relatively recent theoretical shift in its consideration: from the crowd as an object to the crowd as a subject of social action. In this connection, it became possible to identify the essential signs of “clever crowd” (ability for self-organization and rationality). The article details the content of negative and positive views on the crowd, their advantages and disadvantages; technology of working with the crowd, including those that allow you to turn it into a “clever” one, thereby opening up new horizons for the development and renewal of the democratic form of society.