The Psychology of Mass Phenomena – How We Got To Where We are Now?
And now, if this free-floating anxiety is highly present in a population, and the media provide a narrative which indicates an object of anxiety, and at the same time, describe a strategy to deal with this object of anxiety, then all the anxiety connects to this object, and people are willing to follow this strategy to deal with this object, no matter what the cost is. That is what happens in the beginning stages of mass formation.
