Shit.
I haven't even got to page 7 of Mark Earl's new book, Herd, and I already know it's going to be a great ride. For someone with a nagging tendency to think in terms of crowds (the DJ thing again) this book is perfect. Human behaviour only makes sense to me when it's explained as group behaviour. It's an orientation I couldn't change if I tried. So how happy am I when I read things like this, right in the introduction?
"we are a we-species who do individually what we do largely because of each other".
It's what attracts me to ideas like iconic brands, cultural movements and more recently, trying to understand how networked communication is changing what "each other" means. The crowd is much different today than it was just 10 years ago, thanks to all of the changes we always go on about with the "creolization" of media.
Small personal anectode: I've had dozens of promoters and club owners pick my brain over the years about what it takes to get people to come out to their party. They all look for the silver bullet, all the time. Too bad they're always dissapointed when I tell them that I only really know one thing for sure: people like to go where there are other people.
We like to believe we are individualistic but the fact is that most of all we are the part of the herd. We are the social creatures and the social aspect feels enormous part of our life. Different forms of social interactions are shaping us, teach us different roles and make us to act in one or another way. We can't like it but we are sheep :-)
It sounds like a good book - must have it!
cheers!
Posted by: Daria R. Rasmussen | February 14, 2007 at 02:21 AM
The book's also great for showing us the degree to which the "I" centric view of human behaviour is a very Western thing. We take it for granted, because it's all we know, like a fish in water, and it leads us down the path of misunderstanding a lot of what makes people tick.
Hope all is well at your new gig Daria!
Posted by: Dino | February 14, 2007 at 09:32 AM