Jean-Gabriel Tarde (1843–1904) is a prominent French criminologist, psychologist and philosopher, a member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, but above all, one of the scientists who stood at the origins of the creation of scientific sociology, who developed his unique “subjective-psychological " theory back in the 1870s. and spent 20 years on its development and polishing. His contribution to sociology can hardly be overestimated - for example, Tarde is considered the creator of two areas of modern sociology: the theory of mass culture and the analysis of public opinion. “Public Opinion and the Crowd” is a book first published by Tarde back in 1892, but has not lost its relevance today days, one of the fundamental works of the theory of mass communication. In it, the scientist discusses the topic of the “public” as the highest form of the crowd - an inert and gullible mass, short-lived and dependent on its leader. The public is also dependent, however, on the media, which consistently shape its opinion, united by a community of judgments (instilled in it from the outside, using the same media) and is prone to novelty. She is more socially withdrawn than the crowd, more tolerant of other people's opinions. However, it is enough to competently manipulate her opinion for the public to again turn into a destructive crowd... The publishing layout is saved in PDF A4 format.