multitude

Multitude is a term for a group of people who cannot be classed under any other distinct category, except for their shared fact of existence. The term has a history of use reaching back to antiquity, but took on a strictly political concept when it was first used by Machiavelli and reiterated by Spinoza. The multitude is a concept of a population that has not entered into a social contract with a sovereign political body, such that individuals retain the capacity for political self-determination. A multitude typically classified as a quantity exceeding 100. For Hobbes the multitude was a rabble that needed to enact a social contract with a monarch, thus turning them from a multitude into a people. For Machiavelli and Spinoza both, the role of the multitude vacillates between admiration and contempt. Recently the term has returned to prominence as a new model of resistance against global systems of power as described by political theorists Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri in their international best-seller Empire (2000) and expanded upon in their (2004). Other theorists recently began to use the term include political thinkers associated with Autonomist Marxism and its sequelae, including Sylvère Lotringer, Paolo Virno, and thinkers connected with the eponymous review Multitudes.

Multitude ist ein Begriff aus der politischen Philosophie. In der aktuellen Diskussion spielt er vor allem im Postoperaismus eine wichtige Rolle.

De menigte: Oorlog en democratie in de nieuwe wereldorde (2004; oorspronkelijke titel Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire) is een boek over globalisering en geopolitiek van de Amerikaanse literatuurwetenschapper Michael Hardt en de Italiaanse politieke theoreticus Antonio Negri. De menigte is het vervolg op . Het geeft een eenvoudiger uiteenzetting van de ideeën uit dat boek, behandelt recente gebeurtenissen als 11 september en de daaropvolgende oorlogen, en legt meer nadruk op de "menigte" en de manier waarop deze een wereldwijde democratie kan verwezenlijken.

Multitude ou multidão é um conceito da sociologia significando qualquer agrupamento humano contendo um número grande de indivíduos atuando ao mesmo tempo, não necessariamente em comum, dentro de um ambiente sócio-cultural, político, econômico e/ou financeiro.

マルチチュード（Multitude）とは、マキャベリによって最初に使用され、その後スピノザが用いた政治概念である。最近では、アントニオ・ネグリとマイケル・ハートの帝国論を契機として再び注目を集めている。マルティテュード、ムルチチュードとも。ラテン語 では“多数”“民衆”などの意味を持つ概念である。 「多数性」「多性」「群衆性」などの訳語もあてられる。