--- title: The Group Mind:A Sketch of the Principles of Collective Psychology url: https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/ description: 'The Group Mind: A Sketch of the Principles of Collective Psychology by William McDougall (1920), full text with provenance and rights.' section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: an interwar radio-and-newsreel intelligence collage with a 1930s map of Europe and propaganda poster proofs.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-interwar.jpg) [Library](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/) · Book # The Group Mind:A Sketch of the Principles of Collective Psychology At a glance A 1920 book on collective psychology by the British psychologist William McDougall, applying crowd and group psychology to nations. - **Author:** William McDougall - **Published:** 1920 - **Origin:** United Kingdom - **Length:** 129,262 words, 22 chapters Full details - **Edition:** The Group Mind: A Sketch of the Principles of Collective Psychology with some Attempt to Apply Them to the Interpretation of National Life and Character. Cambridge: at the University Press, 1920 (Project Gutenberg's proofread transcription) - **Language:** English - **Text source:** [Project Gutenberg, ebook #40826](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40826) - **Text basis:** Proofread transcription by Project Gutenberg's Distributed Proofreaders. The author's footnotes, gathered at the end of the Gutenberg text, are given as a final section; their numbers match the markers in the text. - **Rights:** Published in Britain in 1920, so in the public domain in the United States (published before 1931); Project Gutenberg marks the ebook public domain in the USA. McDougall died in 1938, so the British term ended in 2009, before the 1996 date that would have triggered US restoration. - **Rights checked:** October 2, 2026 On this page - [Read the text](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/#read) - [Provenance and rights](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/#provenance) - [Related](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/#related) **Content note:** Period generalisations about race, national character and "racial qualities", presented by the author as science. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) William McDougall's 1920 book, which moves from the psychology of crowds to organised groups and then to nations, with chapters on national character, leaders, public opinion and what the author calls the race-making period. It sits with Le Bon, Trotter, Wallas and Martin in the Library's shelf of early group and crowd psychology that propaganda writers read. Several chapters assert hereditary racial and national qualities; the text is shown as it was published, with a content note. ## Read the text - [Preface](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/01-preface/) 2,635 words - Part I: General Principles of Collective Psychology - [1. Introduction: The Province of Collective Psychology](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/02-introduction-the-province-of-collective-psycholo/) 8,765 words - [2. The Mental Life of the Crowd](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/03-the-mental-life-of-the-crowd/) 10,965 words - [3. The Highly Organised Group](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/04-the-highly-organised-group/) 6,128 words - [4. The Group Spirit](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/05-the-group-spirit/) 10,912 words - [5. Peculiarities of Groups of Various Types](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/06-peculiarities-of-groups-of-various-types/) 3,042 words - Part II: The National Mind and Character - [6. What Is a Nation?](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/07-what-is-a-nation/) 3,903 words - [7. The Mind of a Nation](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/08-the-mind-of-a-nation/) 9,925 words - [8. Freedom of Communication as a Condition of National Life](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/09-freedom-of-communication-as-a-condition-of-natio/) 1,403 words - [9. The Part of Leaders in National Life](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/10-the-part-of-leaders-in-national-life/) 2,589 words - [10. Other Conditions of National Life](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/11-other-conditions-of-national-life/) 5,220 words - [11. The Will of the Nation](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/12-the-will-of-the-nation/) 5,890 words - [12. Ideas in National Life](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/13-ideas-in-national-life/) 7,297 words - [13. Nations of the Higher Type](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/14-nations-of-the-higher-type/) 5,186 words - Part III: The Development of National Mind and Character - [14. Factors of National Development](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/15-factors-of-national-development/) 3,145 words - [15. The Race-Making Period](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/16-the-race-making-period/) 4,816 words - [16. The Race-Making Period (continued)](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/17-the-race-making-period-continued/) 5,136 words - [17. The Race-Making Period (continued)](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/18-the-race-making-period-continued/) 5,239 words - [18. Racial Changes During the Historic Period](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/19-racial-changes-during-the-historic-period/) 9,538 words - [19. The Progress of Nations in Their Youth](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/20-the-progress-of-nations-in-their-youth/) 6,910 words - [20. The Progress of Nations in Their Maturity](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/21-the-progress-of-nations-in-their-maturity/) 6,386 words - [Footnotes](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/22-footnotes/) 4,232 words [Download as plain text](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/mcdougall-group-mind-1920/mcdougall-group-mind-1920.txt) 129,262 words, with the provenance header above the text ## Provenance and rights - **Edition:** The Group Mind: A Sketch of the Principles of Collective Psychology with some Attempt to Apply Them to the Interpretation of National Life and Character. Cambridge: at the University Press, 1920 (Project Gutenberg's proofread transcription) - **Text source:** [Project Gutenberg, ebook #40826](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40826) - **Text basis:** Proofread transcription by Project Gutenberg's Distributed Proofreaders. The author's footnotes, gathered at the end of the Gutenberg text, are given as a final section; their numbers match the markers in the text. - **Rights:** Published in Britain in 1920, so in the public domain in the United States (published before 1931); Project Gutenberg marks the ebook public domain in the USA. McDougall died in 1938, so the British term ended in 2009, before the 1996 date that would have triggered US restoration. Checked October 2, 2026. - **Changes made:** Line wraps rejoined and headings set in title case; the Project Gutenberg licence header and footer removed. Wording, spelling and punctuation are the source's own. The contents list (with its chapter summaries) and the index are left out. The footnotes are moved to the end of the book as one section. - **Source file checksum:** `6d2f39dbc1cad505…` (SHA-256 of the download this text was made from) ## Related - [The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lebon-the-crowd/) - [Edward Bernays, Propaganda (1928)](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/bernays-propaganda/)