Social Movement Theory: Mass Society Theory

This article will focus on mass society theory. This article will provide an overview of mass society theory including discussion of the characteristics and history of the concept of a mass society. The connections between mass society theory and social movement theory will be documented. The major contributors to mass society theory, including Alexis de Tocqueville, Emile Durkheim, Emil Lederer, José Ortega y Gasset, Robert Nisbet, Hannah Arendt, Herbert Blumer, William Kornhauser, Ferdinand Tonnies, and Karl Mannheim, will be described. The main criticisms of mass society theory, namely the limited effects model, will be discussed.

Social Movements & Collective Behavior > Social Movement Theory: Mass Society Theory

Keywords Collective Identity; Demagogues; Frame; Industrial Era; Industrial Revolution; Limited Effects Model; Mass Media; Mass Society Theory; Social Movement Theory; Society; Sociology; Symbolic Interactionism

Social Movement Theory: Mass Society Theory

Overview

Mass society theory is an interdisciplinary critique of the collective identity that results from the mass commodification of culture and the mass media's manipulation of society. Mass society theory invokes a vision of society characterized by alienation, absence of individuality, amorality, lack of religion, weak relationships, and political apathy. Mass society theory developed at the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century in response to the rise of the media industry and the socio-political changes created by industrialization, urbanization, and the fall of established political regimes. Major contributors to mass society theory include Alexis de Tocqueville, Emile Durkheim, Emil Lederer, José Ortega y Gasset, Robert Nisbet, Hannah Arendt, Herbert Blumer, William Kornhauser, Ferdinand Tönnies, and Karl Mannheim.

Early mass society theory asserted that the new urban masses, comprising uprooted and isolated individuals, were vulnerable to new forms of demagoguery and manipulation by the media (Hamilton, 2001). While popular media existed in the nineteenth century, mass media, as a discrete concept, did not develop until the early twentieth century with the advent of national circulation newspapers and national media networks like nationwide radio. To mass society theorists, the media represents and promotes the worst problems of modernity. Early proponents of the theory believed that mass society is characterized by a collective identity and low-brow cultural interests. Because of these characteristics, they believed that dictatorships and bureaucracies can easily and quickly manipulate mass societies, making them vulnerable to extremist politics and the rise of disenfranchised .

Mass society theory belongs to the larger body of interdisciplinary work called social movement theory. Social movement theory refers to the study of social mobilization, including its social, cultural, and political manifestations and consequences. Social movement scholarship is often motivated by a desire for social change and, consequently, integrates scholarship and activism. The field took shape during the late nineteenth century and has since come to comprise six main areas of study: mass society theory, relative deprivation theory, resource mobilization theory, structural-strain theory, value-added theory, and new social movement theory. At its score, social movement theory holds that social movements are, in many instances, created through the use and manipulation of frames, or cognitive structures which guide an individual's or group's perception of reality. Social movements influence and control their members through tactics such as mobilizing fear, engaging in frame appropriation, social constructionism, and counterframing. Sociologists analyze social movements in two distinct ways: social constructionist perspective and frame analysis (Benford & Snow 2000).

Mass society theory emerged as a discrete field of interest at the turn of the century, in part as a result of the changes that scholars saw occurring in society as effects of industrialization, urbanization, and political change (Mackie, 1978). During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the rise of industrialization and urbanization changed society. The industrial era in Europe and America, which approximately spanned from 1750 to 1900, was a time characterized by the replacement of manual labor with industrialized and mechanized labor, as well as by the adoption of the factory system of production. The industrial era included the period of the industrial revolution and the resulting rise of capitalism. The industrial revolution refers to the technical, cultural, and social changes that occurred in the Western world during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The period saw a major increase in the mechanization of agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation (Ahmad, 1997). The industrial revolution—which brought with it new types and conceptions of employment, time, scale, landscape, property, and social relationships—caused great social change. The nineteenth century saw major transformations in gender and class hierarchies, family units, gender relations, immigrants' roles in society, and childhood. The industrial revolution, with its increased need for workers, created a new working, middle, and consumer classes. The family unit and gender roles changed, too, during the period, largely as because of the factory system which employed both men and women and removed the workplace from the home (Abelson, 1995).

Mass society theory suggests that all these social changes created politically and psychologically unmoored masses. According to the theory, demagogues, or political leaders who achieve power by preying on people's emotions or prejudices, could easily manipulate these emerging mass.

The rise of the media industry in the twentieth century provided a formal means of communication that was accessible to almost everyone in a society. Early theorists and the ruling classes quickly came to see it as being largely responsible for publicizing and disseminating the changes, unrest, and discontent which typified the period. They blamed the mass media (like the penny press newspapers that were popular during the 1830s) for giving credence to and perpetuating the industrial era's discontent, alienation, and decline in community (Hamilton, 2001). As a result, it came to be seen as a symbol of all that was wrong with society.

Mass society theory grew out of these concerns. It holds that the mass media has the power to change cultural norms and power relations, and can thus contribute to and change the social order. As such, it can work to shape people's perceptions of the world.

Mass society theory tends to emphasize the breakdown of the primary groups in society such as the family and neighborhood. The theory does not apply to all modern societies, but rather to the most fragmented and decentralized political economies. These societies are most vulnerable to becoming mass societies because they contain vacuums created by declining participation in religious organizations, unions, political parties, and voluntary associations. In the absence of such communal associations, the mass media, which provides both communication and entertainment, steps in to fill the void (Kreisler, 2002).

Mass society theory is less prevalent today than it was during the early to mid twentieth century. That said, mass society theorists continue to critique the relationship between society and the mass media, and have renewed their efforts by incorporating new media such as the Internet.

Further Insights

Contributors to Mass Society Theory

Mass society theory is characterized by psychological explanations of human behavior. Participants in mass society are thought to be alienated from society at large. Mass society theorists tend to argue for the importance of emotional and psychological understanding of mass society. The main contributors to mass society theory, including Alexis de Tocqueville, Emile Durkheim, Emil Lederer, José Ortega y Gasset, Robert Nisbet, Hannah Arendt, Herbert Blumer, William Kornhauser, Ferdinand Tonnies, and Karl Mannheim, are described below.

Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859) was a political theorist who used the term mass society to refer to the power of the majority to challenge and topple the established power of aristocracy. Tocqueville's best-known works were Democracy in America (1835) and The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856), which focused on political democracy and public administration in the United States and France. Tocqueville explored questions about politics, religion, and more in the first modern democratic republics. He worked to understand the collective identities of Americans under their emerging democratic system and of the French under their toppling aristocratic regime. He believed that the American ethic was characterized by equality and dignity for all, and the French ethic by continued elitism and classicism. Tocqueville's work laid the foundation for mass society theory's understanding the mass society's power to challenge and change a society's balance of power (Maletz, 2008).

Emile Durkheim

Emile Durkheim (1855–1917) was a French sociologist concerned with the problem of the individual within society as well as issues of solidarity and social cohesion. He used the term "mass society" to refer to society as a mass of undifferentiated individuals. According to Durkheim, it is people's social roles or functions that hold a society together. His theories of cultural differentiation and structural differentiation influenced nineteenth century sociology by explaining how cultural and social structures could foster social cohesion and divisiveness. Cultural differentiation refers to the idea that the degree of consensus over cognitive orientations and cultural codes among the members of a population is related to their interpersonal interaction, level of emotional arousal, and rate of ritual performance. Structural differentiation, a term borrowed from sociologist Herbert Spencer, refers to the idea that the degree of differentiation among a population is related to the level of competition among these actors, the rate of growth in this population, the extent of ecological concentration of this population, and the rate of population mobility (Turner, 1990).

Emil Lederer

Emil Lederer (1882–1939) was an economic sociologist who wrote about the sociology of world war. He fled Nazi rule in Germany during World War II and found a professional home at the New School for Social Research in New York. Lederer's work The State of the Masses: The Threat of the Classless Society (1939), an influential analysis of the Nazi state, continues to influence studies of the ability of demagogues to control mass society. Lederer's work was characterized as Austro-Marxian, a system of economic theory that was based on a general social theory of economic relationships (Joas, 2006).

José Ortega y Gasset

José Ortega y Gasset, 1883–1955, was a public intellectual, journalist, and politician. His best-known work was The Revolt of the Masses (1930), which explored the political and social crisis of Western civilization. He believed the root cause of sociopolitical crisis to be the growing trend of sharing and distributing social power to the masses. He was opposed to the social distribution of equality to everyone regardless of education and class. Ortega argued that hyper-democracy, a system in which power is evenly distributed to everyone in society, results in cultural degradation and deterioration. He believed that rule by the masses (i.e. public opinion) inevitably leads to sociopolitical crisis and decline. Ortega drew a clear distinction between the mass human type (characterized as an average, ordinary man who accepts himself as he is) and the select man (characterized as a man who places great demands upon himself in the pursuit of excellence). According to Ortega, only the select man is capable of ruling and leading society (Statham 2004).

Robert Nisbet

Robert Nisbet (1913–1996) was a sociologist and communitarian who mourned and studied the demise of associational life in the United States. Communitarianism refers to a group philosophies which prioritize civil society over individualism. Nisbet's work emphasizes the importance of communities and societies over both the individual and the centralized government. Nisbet believed that local communities, rather than national governments, should maintain the most significant functions of society. He argued that political centralization leads to a society's social and cultural death. Nisbet's descriptions of American society were somewhat dire, as were his predictions of the society's future. He believed that a weakened civic life at the local level and a strengthened centralized government would deaden society and create disconnected masses of individuals. Critics of Nisbet argue that he failed to recognize the role of states in maintaining social life at the local level through institutions and organizations like schools and community centers. Nisbet's works include The Quest for Community: A Study in the Ethics of Order and Freedom (1953), The Social Philosophers: Community and Conflict in Western Thought (1973), Twilight of Authority (1975), and The Present Age: Progress and Anarchy in Modern America (1988). Other communitarians, including Robert D. Putnam, author of Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (2000) and Theda Skocpol, author of Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life (2003), have been strongly influenced by Nisbet's work (Nagal 2004).

Hannah Arendt

Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) was a political philosopher and World War II refugee. She studied Nazi and Stalinist regimes as well as the totalitarian phenomenon in general. Arendt, along with Karl Mannheim, argued that modern society is vulnerable to totalitarian movements, like Hitler's, because of the decline or loss of mediating associations—such as churches, trade unions, voluntary associations, and professions—that serve as a buffer between the individual and mass communication and the state. These mediating associations, she believed, create opportunities for participation and protect individuals and society from totalitarian regimes. Arendt's best known works were The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951) and The Human Condition (1958). Overall, her work strengthened sociology's understanding of the connections between totalitarian movements and mass society (Kreisler, 2002).

Herbert Blumer

Herbert Blumer, born in 1900, was a civic sociologist concerned with some of the problems of modernity. He saw modern society as fully pluralized and segmented and studied race relations, worker conflict, urbanization, and popular culture to explore how difference and factions threaten social cohesion. He also helped develop the theory of symbolic interactionism. Building on the work of his teacher George Herbert Mead, Blumer's symbolic interactionism locates meaning in social interactions. According to Blumer, social actors ascribe meaning to things based on their experiences of and social interactions with them. Meaning, in this theoretical system, is an interpretive and evolving process. Symbolic interactionism, along with ethnomethodology, emerged as a leading paradigm of qualitative sociology (Snow, 2001).

William Kornhauser

William Kornhauser (1925—2004) was a sociologist and expert on social movements. He described his work as an effort to understand the art of associating together. Believing that society should encourage pluralist tendencies and discourage mass society tendencies, Kornhauser built on and expanded the work of Alexis de Tocqueville, Karl Mannheim, José Ortega y Gasset, and Robert Nisbet to identify the conditions under which societies become vulnerable to mass movements and totalitarian regimes. He believed that the sociopolitical changes brought about by rapid industrialization, urbanization, and economic crisis facilitated the creation of mass society and mass movements. He also analyzed the essential characteristics of mass society and sought to connect the political behavior of mass society with current social conditions. Additionally, Kornhauser studied the relationship between mass society and the democratic order. His works—the best known of which was The Politics of Mass Society (1959) —had a strong influence on the student activism movement of the 1960s and 1970s (Bay, 1961).

Ferdinand Tönnies

Ferdinand Tönnies (1855–1936) was a German sociologist inspired by the work of Hobbes, Spencer, Marx, and Comte, and is considered to be one of the originators of mass society theory. He published political-opinion writings, which were characterized by a utopian vision of the future, and during World War I and held the presidency of the German Sociological Society. As one of the founders of classical German sociology, he influenced the direction of modern sociology worldwide. Tönnies proposed that sociology be divided into three parts: a theoretical or pure sociology, an applied sociology, and an empirical sociology. His most well-known book, Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft (1887), explained his theories of social groups. According to Tönnies, there were two types of social groups: gemeinschaft and gesellschaft. Gemeinschaft, which could be represented as a family or folk community, is a community with shared values and beliefs. Gesellschaft, which could be represented as a business or industrial society, is a group in which people associate with one another to meet their individual, rather than communal, interests. Gesellschaft are characterized by self-interest and diverse values and mores, and Tönnies believed they were typical features of modern society. He associated gemeinschaft with communism and gesellschaft with socialism. According to Tönnies, cultures may have elements of both gemeinschaft and gesellschaft (Thurnwald & Eubank 1936).

Karl Mannheim

Karl Mannheim, 1838–1947, was a Hungarian-born sociologist concerned with the sociology of knowledge, or the connections between human thoughts and the conditions of existence. He studied the role of the elite in mass society. In particular, he explored the role of education in selecting and training elite members of society. Mannheim found that in mass society the elite have access to specialized knowledge. Historicism, Marxism, and phenomenology all influenced Mannheim's work. His best known works include Structures of Thinking (1922), Ideologie und Utopie (1929), and Man and Society in an Age of Reconstruction (1940) (Hoyle, 1964).

Issues

Critique of Mass Society Theory

Mass society theory is wholly accepted by neither contemporary social scientists nor society at large. During the mid-twentieth century, social science's strongest critique of mass society theory came from the limited effects model. The limited effects model, developed by Paul Lazarsfeld (1901–1976), asserts that the mass media does not diminish but instead enhances democracy and society. The limited effects model was based on Lazarsfeld's and his colleagues' a study of the media's effect on voting patterns in the US electorate, which led Lazarsfeld to conclude that the media's effect on voting patterns was limited. Lazarsfeld also contributed to the field of media effect studies, a field devoted to measuring the behavioral effects of media on society. While Lazarsfeld, and media effect studies in general, acknowledge that the media does influence society, Lazarsfeld's research suggested it had a limited role in the formation of public opinion. The limited effects model shaped media studies through much of the twentieth century (Smith, 2001).

Ultimately, mass society may not be as destructive to selves and democracies as previously asserted by mass society theorists. The theory developed at a time of extreme social upheaval, and its critics have argue that it is, by and large, grounded in the desire of nineteenth century upper class aristocrats to retain their powers and rights. Additionally the theory's claims about the media industry, mass society, pluralism, and bureaucracy are difficult, if not impossible, to document, and, in some cases, research contradicts them. Arguably, some studies have shown that the theory underestimates people's abilities to make decisions for themselves. Further, the theory may underestimate the continued existence of antimedia influences in people's lives. In the final analysis, mass society theory may have limitations for contemporary sociology since it does not resonate with current studies of the media and society (Hamilton, 2001).

Terms & Concepts

Collective Identity: The tendency of social movements to form a self-image that is shaped by the movement's individual participants, and that also works to shaped the individual participant's consciousnesses.

Demagogues: Leaders who garner political power through impassioned appeals that play on the public's fears and prejudices.

Frame: A cognitive structure which guides an individual's or group's perception of reality.

Industrial Era: A historical period in the Western world that was characterized by the replacement of manual labor with industrialized and mechanized labor.

Industrial Revolution: The technical, cultural, and social changes that occurred in the Western world during the late eighteenth and early to mid-nineteenth centuries.

Limited Effects Model: A media theory developed by Paul Lazarsfeld which asserts that mass media does not diminish but instead enhances democracy and society.

Mass Media: A sector of the media dedicated to reaching large audiences. Typically comprises television, radio, and newspapers and magazines.

Mass Society Theory: An interdisciplinary critique of the mass media's effect on society.

Social Movement Theory: The study of social mobilization including its social, cultural, and political manifestations and consequences.

Society: A group of individuals united by common values or norms, or by a common culture or organizational affiliation.

Sociology: The scientific study of human social behavior, human association, and the results of social activities.

Symbolic Interactionism: A sociological theory that locates meaning in social interactions.

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Suggested Reading

Bechmann, G., & Stehr, N. (2011). Niklas Luhmann's Theory of the Mass Media. Society, 48, 142-147. Retrieved October 27, 2013 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=58132692

Hipsher, P. (2005). Framing 'heretical' identities: Pro-Choice Catholic and pro-life feminist organizations in the American abortion controversy. Conference Paper: American Sociological Association, 1-19. Retrieved April 22, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=15928830&site=ehost-live.

Katz, E. (2009). Why Sociology Abandoned Communication. American Sociologist, 40, 167-174. Retrieved October 27, 2013 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=44217658

Konak, N. (2006). Local environmental struggles, environmental injustice, and frame construction: the case of Bergama, Turkey. Conference Papers: American Sociological Association, 2006 Annual Meeting, 1-22. Retrieved April 22, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=26642702&site=ehost-live

Robnett, B. (2004). Emotional resonance, social location, and strategic planning. Sociological Focus, 37, 195-212. Retrieved April 22, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=14690362&site=ehost-live