National Delusions
E386360
"National Delusions" is a section of Charles Mackay’s classic 1841 work *Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds* that examines large-scale irrational beliefs and manias affecting entire nations.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| National Delusions canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3770658 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: National Delusions Context triple: [Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, partTitle, National Delusions]
-
A.
The Great American Lie
The Great American Lie is a documentary film that examines economic inequality and the cultural values underpinning the American Dream, directed by filmmaker and activist Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
-
B.
Paranoia
"Paranoia" is an introspective, emotionally charged track by Chance the Rapper that explores fear, violence, and anxiety in his hometown of Chicago.
-
C.
The Assault on Reason
The Assault on Reason is a political book by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore that critiques the erosion of rational public discourse in American democracy, particularly in the media and politics.
-
D.
The Great Political Superstition
"The Great Political Superstition" is an essay by Herbert Spencer that critiques blind faith in governmental authority and challenges the belief that the state is inherently a force for good.
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E.
False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism
False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism is a critical work of political philosophy and economics in which John Gray argues that the project of global free-market capitalism is unstable, culturally destructive, and ultimately unsustainable.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: National Delusions Target entity description: "National Delusions" is a section of Charles Mackay’s classic 1841 work *Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds* that examines large-scale irrational beliefs and manias affecting entire nations.
-
A.
The Great American Lie
The Great American Lie is a documentary film that examines economic inequality and the cultural values underpinning the American Dream, directed by filmmaker and activist Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
-
B.
Paranoia
"Paranoia" is an introspective, emotionally charged track by Chance the Rapper that explores fear, violence, and anxiety in his hometown of Chicago.
-
C.
The Assault on Reason
The Assault on Reason is a political book by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore that critiques the erosion of rational public discourse in American democracy, particularly in the media and politics.
-
D.
The Great Political Superstition
"The Great Political Superstition" is an essay by Herbert Spencer that critiques blind faith in governmental authority and challenges the belief that the state is inherently a force for good.
-
E.
False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism
False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism is a critical work of political philosophy and economics in which John Gray argues that the project of global free-market capitalism is unstable, culturally destructive, and ultimately unsustainable.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book section
ⓘ
literary work ⓘ |
| aimsTo | warn against uncritical acceptance of national myths ⓘ |
| analyzes |
mechanisms of collective belief formation
ⓘ
role of emotion in public opinion ⓘ spread of irrational ideas through societies ⓘ |
| author | Charles Mackay ⓘ |
| bibliographicLocation | section within the complete text of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | United Kingdom ⓘ |
| critiques |
mass credulity
ⓘ
political propaganda ⓘ unquestioned patriotism ⓘ |
| describes |
historical episodes of national mania
ⓘ
large-scale irrational beliefs affecting entire nations ⓘ |
| focusesOn |
crowd psychology
ⓘ
economic delusions ⓘ patriotic delusions ⓘ political delusions ⓘ public opinion ⓘ religious delusions ⓘ |
| genre |
cultural criticism
ⓘ
history of ideas ⓘ non-fiction ⓘ social psychology ⓘ |
| hasInfluenceOn |
later studies of crowd psychology
ⓘ
literature on financial bubbles ⓘ modern discussions of mass hysteria ⓘ |
| hasPart | case studies of national belief manias ⓘ |
| hasPerspective | skeptical view of popular beliefs ⓘ |
| includedIn | first edition of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| literaryPeriod | Victorian era ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
collective delusions
ⓘ
mass irrationality ⓘ national myths ⓘ popular manias ⓘ social contagion ⓘ |
| notableFor | early systematic treatment of national-scale delusions ⓘ |
| partOf | Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds ⓘ |
| publicationCentury | 19th century ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1841 ⓘ |
| relatedWork |
Money Mania
ⓘ
The Crusades ⓘ
linked to:
Crusades
Witch Mania ⓘ |
| timePeriodDescribed | primarily early modern and modern European history ⓘ |
| workInSeries | Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: National Delusions Description of subject: "National Delusions" is a section of Charles Mackay’s classic 1841 work *Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds* that examines large-scale irrational beliefs and manias affecting entire nations.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject linked to:
Charles Mackay – Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds