《乌合之众·第三编·不同群体的分类与描述·选举群体》第1节
ELECTORAL crowds--that is to say, collectivities invested with the power of electing the holders of certain functions--constitute heterogeneous crowds, but as their action is confined to a single clearly determined matter, namely, to choosing between different candidates, they present only a few of the characteristics previously described. Of the characteristics peculiar to crowds, they display in particular but slight aptitude for reasoning, the absence of the critical spirit, irritability, credulity, and simplicity. In their decision, moreover, is to be traced the influence of the leaders of crowds and the part played by the factors we have enumerated: affirmation, repetition, prestige, and contagion. Let us examine by what methods electoral crowds are to be persuaded. It will be easy to deduce their psychology from the methods that are most successful. It is of primary importance that the candidate should possess prestige. Personal prestige can only be replaced by that resulting from wealth. Talent and even genius are not elements of success of serious importance. Of capital importance, on the other hand, is the necessity for the candidate of possessing prestige, of being able, that is, to force himself upon the electorate without discussion. The reason why the electors, of whom a majority are working men or peasants, so rarely choose a man from their own ranks to represent them is that such a person enjoys no prestige among them. When, by chance, they do elect a man who is their equal, it is as a rule for subsidiary reasons--for instance, to spite an eminent man, or an influential employer of labour on whom the elector is in daily dependence, and whose master he has the illusion he becomes in this way for a moment.
注释摘要
勒庞在这一段里要证明的，其实是一个相当简洁的判断：选举群体虽然是一种特殊的群体，但在心理机制上和其他群体并无本质区别。他开篇先做了一个分类上的让步——选举群体是异质性群体，但因为他们的行动被限定在选举这个单一事项上，所以只表现出群体心理的部分特征。接下来他便逐一罗列：理性能力薄弱、缺乏批判精神、易怒、轻信、头脑简单。随后他迅速把话题引向自己整个理论的核心框…