Ethical Matters & Bloomsbury Festival:
How Crowds Made the Modern World

Join Dan Hancox in celebrating the release of his acclaimed new book Multitudes: How Crowds Made the Modern World, for a launch event as part of Bloomsbury Festival 2024.

What happens when we come together with strangers? And why are those in power so desperate to keep us apart? In this Ethical Matters talk, Dan Hancox asks if it is time to rethink our long-held assumptions about crowd behaviour and psychology, and the part crowds play in our lives. What if “mob mentality” was just a myth invented to serve those at the top?

Throughout the modern era, politicians, philosophers and the media have told us that every peaceful crowd is a violent mob in waiting, and must be dispersed with force. From years covering raucous football matches, hedonistic raves and the world’s best carnivals, to dodging rubber bullets and reporting from the midst of riots, Dan Hancox argues that crowds are the ultimate force for change: the bringer of conviviality and euphoria, mass culture and democracy – and a place where we find not just joy and solidarity, but something fundamental about what it is to be human.

Dan Hancox is a freelance writer, focusing on music, politics, cities and culture. He writes for the Guardian and Observer, London Review of Books, NY Times, New Statesman, Newsweek and others. Newham Bookshop will be selling copies of Dan’s newest book on the day.

This event is part of Bloomsbury Festival 2024.

Age Recommendation:

16+

Price: *All ticket prices below include a £1 booking fee applied at checkout*

In person
IN ADVANCE • Standard £10 • Living Support £7 • Students £7 • Members FREE
ON THE DOOR • Standard £11 • Living Support £8 • Students £8 • Members FREE

Online
Standard £7 • Members FREE

Access Information

Due to the age and Grade Il listing of the building, there is no lift access to rooms above the ground floor.

All the ground-floor rooms are fully accessible by wheelchair. Main Hall (street access, step-free), Brockway Room (street access, step-free), Bertrand Russell Room (street access, shallow ramp), Hive Cafe (street access, step-free), There is also an accessible toilet on the ground floor opposite the Brockway Room.