The development of a transformation explanation for collective behavior is traced from LeBon's theory of crowd mind, through Park's dissertation on rational and critical discussion in publics versus psychic reciprocity in crowds, to Blumer's distinction between symbolic interaction in routine social life and circular reaction in collective behavior. The LeBon-Park-Blumer hypothesis holds that crowds transform individuals, diminishing or eliminating their ability to rationally control their behavior. The accumulated logical arguments and empirical evidence against the transformation hypothesis are reviewed. Some theoretical and methodological paradoxes are noted in Blumer's adoption of Park's rather than Mead's explanation for human behavior in problematic situations.
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Clark McPhail (1989) studied this question.