Part 1. The appeal of mass movements

The desire for change

The desire for substitutes

The interchangeability of mass movements

Part 2. The potential converts

The role of the undesirables in human affairs

The poor. The new poor ; The abjectly poor ; The free poor ; The creative poor ; The unified poor

Misfits

The inordinately selfish

The ambitious facing unlimited opportunities

Minorities

The bored

The sinners

Part 3. United action and self-sacrifice

Preface

Factors promoting self-sacrifice. Identification with a collective whole ; Make-believe ; Deprecation of the present ; "Things which are not" ; Doctrine ; Fanaticism ; Mass movements and armies

Unifying agents. Hatred ; Imitation ; Persuasion and coercion ; Leadership ; Action ; Suspicion ; The effects of unification

Part 4. Beginning and end

Men of words

The fanatics

The practical men of action

Good and bad mass movements. The unattractiveness and sterility of the active phase ; Some factors which determine the length of the active phase ; Useful mass movements.