《乌合之众·第三编·不同群体的分类与描述·刑事陪审团》第8节
Being well acquainted with the psychology of castes, and also with the psychology of other categories of crowds, I do not perceive a single case in which, wrongly accused of a crime, I should not prefer to have to deal with a jury rather than with magistrates. I should have some chance that my innocence would be recognised by the former and not the slightest chance that it would be admitted by the latter. The power of crowds is to be dreaded, but the power of certain castes is to be dreaded yet more. Crowds are open to conviction; castes never are.
注释摘要
勒庞在这段话中作了一个带有强烈个人色彩的宣示：他宣称自己深谙“种姓”与群众两类心理，所以假如蒙冤受审，他断然会选择由陪审团裁断，而不愿落到职业法官手里。他给出的理由是，陪审团这种异质性群体可以被说服，因而无辜之人尚有获得承认的机会；而法官则构成一个封闭的“种姓”，绝无可能被改变看法。在他笔下，群众的力量固然可畏，但某些“种姓”的力量更值得畏惧，因为群众至少…