A Note on the Texts and Their Translations

Abstract

writings, the texts included in our volume aim to offer an overview of the author’s contributions to topics that have consistently engaged him in his career as a public intellectual, namely, the crowd, the woman question, sociological literary criticism, and politics. With the exception of La folla delinquente: Saggio di psicologia collettiva, which we have translated in its entirety because of its seminal role in Sighele’s overall investigation,1 the excerpts here collected are chapters from works that highlight Sighele’s major theoretical breakthroughs at pivotal moments in his epistemic journey. They aim to show the continuity but also intriguing turning points in his thought, and at the same time the breadth and interconnectedness of the original topics he explores. Within each area of Sighele’s investigation, texts are arranged in chronological order and trace the emergence of the author’s conceptualization of the crowd as a criminogenic subject and of the laws able to explain A Note on the Texts and Their Translations