Summary
Laurie Taylor talks to the writer, Dan Hancox, about the part that crowds play in our lives and how they made the modern world. From Notting Hill carnival-goers and football matches to M25 raves and violent riots, what do we know about the madness of the multitude? Also, Lisa Mueller, Associate Professor of Political Science at Macalaster College, Minnesota, asks why protests succeed or fail. Examining data from 97 protests, she finds that more cohesive crowds are key. Drilling down into two British protests, Occupy London and Take Back Parliament, protesters who united around a common goal won more concessions than ones with multiple aims.
Producer: Jayne Egerton
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, so I'd like to tell you where you'll find more just like it. |
| 0:05.5 | I'm Izzy Lee Poulton, an assistant commissioner for BBC Sounds, which means I'm involved in the whole podcast making process. |
| 0:12.0 | Whether that's developing fresh formats or facilitating eye-catching artwork, I helped project manage all the details that make our podcast stand out. |
| 0:19.0 | At the BBC, we've got access to storytellers and experts across a huge range of subjects. |
| 0:24.6 | It could be psychologists, comedians, celebrities or journalists. |
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| 0:42.3 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:48.9 | This is a Thinking Aloud podcast from the BBC, and for more details and much, much more about thinking aloud, go to our website at BBC.co.com.com. |
| 1:05.6 | Hello. I was 15 when I first found myself in a real crowd. |
| 1:12.9 | The motley mob of Liverpool supporters who were packed into the wired- section at the back of the famous cop, a section officially named the boys' pen. I think the entrance fee at the time was |
| 1:20.5 | a whole shilling and that low price meant that a considerable number of the boys packed into |
| 1:25.5 | the pen were a great deal older and taller than they should |
| 1:29.2 | have been. |
| 1:32.8 | It was a shoving, bustling crowd with its own songs and shouts of triumph as intrepid supporters |
| 1:40.8 | scrambled over the high wire netting into the cop itself. But the peculiar |
| 1:45.9 | blend of dangerousness and togetherness which had imparted came to mind as I read a fine new |
| 1:52.3 | book entitled Multitudes, How Crowds Made the Modern World. And its author who now joins me |
| 1:58.9 | is Dan Hancock's. Dan, obvious question to start |
| 2:02.8 | with, I suppose, but what is a crowd? I mean, there's no upper limit is there to a crowd. Whether |
| 2:09.5 | there's a lower limit is debatable. The Riot Act, the famous Riot Act, puts the number |
... |
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