La efervescencia social como problema de investigación

Abstract

This article presents the necessity of taking distance from a widely shared conception by experts and commentators with regards to multitude mobilization. The capacity to manifest a man's popularity or a cause iscommonly contributed to this very conception. Moods are thereby deduced from the observation of behaviours or individual beliefs, assuming that acclamation is equivalent to an act of adherence. The author's demonstration isthe following: 1) to show the reasons for the astonishing social effectiveness ofthis conception; and 2) to indicate that expert interpretations should not abusively reduce the act of acclamation to the mere exercise of an act of will, which debatably derives the existence of public moods from the observation of the participants' behaviour in a multitudinal concentration. The conclusion of the article rests on the necessity to give back social density to those "effervescence moments", forcing the author to clarify his/her point of research.