From controversial law cases such as that of the footballer Ched

Evans through to intense bursts of outrage at offensive jokes or

unpopular opinions, the Twitterstorm seems to have replaced the mob in

twenty-first-century imagination. While some defend the use of such

tactics as a (mostly) harmless letting off of steam, others have become

increasingly uncomfortable about what such tactics mean for the state of

public debate more widely. In his much-discussed book, So You’ve Been Publically Shamed,

journalist Jon Ronson explored the real-world effects of such

vituperative mob justice, from unfairly destroying reputations to

ruining lives: last year, an investigation into ‘trolls’ targeting the

parents of Madeleine McCann ended in the suicide of one of the accused.

From psychologist Gustave le Bon’s 1895 work, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, to Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible,

and even behavioural economics, there has been no shortage of

intellectual inquiry into the nature of mobs, yet little consensus about

what defines them. Protestors accused of mob violence in riots across

US cities counter that it is heavy-handed police responses that turned

organised demonstrations into anarchy. Meanwhile, claims that vigilante

mobs mistakenly attacked paediatricians during the child-abuse panic at

the start of the millennium have been found to have said as much about

prejudices about the mob as the mob itself. If fear of the mob is

nothing new, however, is there anything different about its spectral

online version?

Why does the concept of mob rule seem to haunt public debate at a

time when the masses play such a minor role in mainstream politics? Has

the mob found a new home in the online world, with its seeming hostility

to traditional forms of hierarchy and authority? Does the fear of mob

rule reveal an elitist contempt for mass politics, or an anxiety that

contemporary institutions lack the strength to articulate popular

frustration? 

SPEAKERS

Josie Appleton

director, civil liberties group, Manifesto Club

John Coventry

global communications director, Change.org

Rupert Myers

barrister and writer

Daniel O'Reilly

comedian, aka Dapper Laughs

Cathy Young

contributing editor, Reason magazine; author, Ceasefire! Why women and men must join forces to achieve true equality

CHAIR

David Bowden

associate director, Institute of Ideas