Rise or Decadence of Societies and Civilizations: A Theoretical Knot between Psychology and Politics

Abstract

This article explores the emergence of collective psychology at the turn of the twentieth century. It reviews the divergent responses of turn-of-the century scholars to the quest of the rise and fall of societies. The paper presents an overview of the analyses of existing society, proposed by authors as Gabriel Tarde, Cesare Lombroso, Scipio Sighele, Gustave Le Bon and George Sorel, particularly around the notion of 'innovation' and 'misoneism'. The conclusion reached is that this complex, resourceful and fascinating group posed the crucial question of temporal horizons in the foundation of the political obligation. The same question from which, in the eighties of the twentieth century, Gianfranco Miglio's hypothesis of a 'psychology of politics' and Assunto Quadrio's researches about the connection of politics and psychology, moved.