The mob is a classless residue that prefers strongmen to representation

Evidence

The mob is primarily a group in which the residue of all classes are represented. This makes it so easy to mistake the mob for the people, which also comprises all strata of society. While the people in all great revolutions fight for true representation, the mob always will shout for the “strong man,” the “great leader.” For the mob hates society from which it is excluded, as well as Parliament where it is not represented. Plebiscites, therefore, with which modern mob leaders have obtained such excellent results, are an old concept of politicians who rely upon the mob. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 308

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

• DEFINE: Core distinction between ‘mob’ (classless residue, anti-representation, pro-plebiscite) and ‘people’ (all strata fighting for true representation) — a key stigmatization/racism-building concept.
• XREF: Connects to Gramsci’s hegemony/common sense and to how populist movements mobilize — the mob/people distinction recurs in Islamophobia readings about the ‘masses’ being captured by nationalist slogans.

Related

• The masses stand outside class-based political representation and reflect all classes (similarity 0.82)
• The mob is a by-product of bourgeois society, not the working class (similarity 0.81)
• Mob leaders weaponized Jews as ideology regardless of Jewish actual importance. (similarity 0.79)
• Treating the mob as the people is a shared error of rival leadership theories (similarity 0.79)