Javno mišljenje / Umjetnost i gomila

Two studies in mass psychology and collective psychology: on the formation of public opinion and on the influence of art on the crowd. The work consists of two parts:

• Public Opinion — Sighele analyzes the mechanisms of emergence, spread and influence of public opinion, the role of the press, suggestion and emotional factors in the mass psyche.
• Art and the Crowd — discusses how art (theater, literature, music) affects the collective, how it shapes the taste of the crowd and the relationship between elite art and mass acceptance.

Sighele belongs to the Italian school of collective psychology (along with Gustave Le Bon and Gabriel Tarde). His approach is pessimistic: the crowd (mass) is, according to him, irrational, easily manipulated and prone to destructive impulses. Public opinion is not the result of rational discussion, but emotional contagion and suggestion. These works were written in the spirit of the fin-de-siècle period, when intellectuals were concerned about the rise of mass democracy, the press and political movements.

In Croatia and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, Croats and Slovenes, the book was published at a time when intellectuals were intensively engaged in the problems of the masses, propaganda, national unity and political psychology after the First World War. The translation was part of a wider reception of European sociology and psychology in interwar Croatia.

The style is essayistic, accessible, with examples from contemporary political and cultural life. The book is relatively thin and intended for a wider educated audience, not just experts. Today, this edition is a bibliographical rarity and represents an important document in the history of social sciences in Croatia, and testifies to early interest in the topics of public opinion, propaganda and mass culture, which would become even more relevant in the 20th century.