"Regardless of the actual historical details of this event, Blumer's account of it as an example of [social contagion] makes clear that his language of possession, poison, infection, and greed is directly linked to the abandonment of societal hierarchy. The agricultural, mechanical, and domestic workers all leave their duties together. The adult masters lose the labor of both their servants and their children at once. Everyone ceases to enrich their superiors in favor of dancing until exhaustion. It is the disobedience characterizing the behavior that we are supposed to understand as evidence of 'contagious mass hysteria.'"

Perhaps human language keeps returning to nature because, somewhere beneath the noise, humans still recognize those patterns inside themselves.

Psychohistory studies history through psychology, treating events as expressions of fear, desire, and collective mentality. From academic theory to Asimov’s fiction, psychohistory explores how inner patterns shape societies and historical change.

Collective Behavior of Lemmings

Antidote to Rumors and Gossip: Turning Enemies into Friends and Allies