OMELCHENKO Y. MASSES AND CROWDS: SOCIAL-PHILOSOPHY ANALYSIS

The thesis for the academic degree of the Candidate of Philosophic Sciences, speciality 09.00.03-Social Philosophy and Philosophy of the History. - Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University, City of Kyiv, 2001. The thesis is dedicated to the research into socio-philosophic concepts of masses and crowds, and their euristic potential for the analysis of mass-like processes. The theoretic sources of the analysis of mass-like social phenomena have been identified; the pre-requisites for the emergence of the mass society have been analysed; the major characteristics of the crowd have been studied, and the factors causing the break-up of the identity in a crowd have been analysed; the role of masses and crowds during riots and revolutions has been studied on examples of Russia and Ukraine; it has been proven that schools, health-care establishments, prisons, and bureaucracy are artificial masses together with the church and the military; the availability of the contemporary variety of masses-the public-has been demonstrated; the major principles of the manipulation of the mass conscience have been identified and a number of practices of the manipulation of masses have been analysed; the availability of the total nature of the manipulation has been proven. Key words: crowd, mass, riot, revolution, natural masses, artificial masses, discipline, drill, supervision, control, manipulation of the mass conscience, public opinion, public, era of masses, panic, destructiveness, mass society.