《乌合之众·第二编·群体的意见与信念·群体意见与信念的间接因素》第24节
Have we digressed in what precedes from the psychology of crowds? Assuredly not. If we desire to understand the ideas and beliefs that are germinating to-day in the masses, and will spring up to-morrow, it is necessary to know how the ground has been prepared. The instruction given the youth of a country allows of a knowledge of what that country will one day be. The education accorded the present generation justifies the most gloomy previsions. It is in part by instruction and education that the mind of the masses is improved or deteriorated. It was necessary in consequence to show how this mind has been fashioned by the system in vogue, and how the mass of the indifferent and the neutral has become progressively an army of the discontented ready to obey all the suggestions of utopians and rhetoricians. It is in the schoolroom that socialists and anarchists are found nowadays, and that the way is being paved for the approaching period of decadence for the Latin peoples.
注释摘要
勒庞在这一段里做了一个明确的辩护：前面长篇讨论教育制度，不是跑题，而是理解群体心理的土壤。他的逻辑线很清楚——如果你想知道明天群众会接受什么观念，就先得看清今天的教育在怎样塑造年轻人的头脑。在他看来，教育是间接因素中最能说明问题的一个，因为它直接决定了群体心智是被改善还是被败坏。勒庞把矛头对准当时法国的拉丁式教育体系，断定它不是在培养有判断力、有行动力的公…