About the author
Spanish philosopher and essayist (1883–1955), the leading Spanish thinker of his generation. The Revolt of the Masses (1930) diagnoses a crisis of European civilisation in the rise of 'mass man' — the self-satisfied average person who claims the right to impose his commonplace views without the discipline or excellence that sustains a culture. It is a liberal-aristocratic warning about democratic mass society, widely read between the wars.
Synopsis
A cultural and political critique of the rise of mass man, modern complacency, and the fragility of civilization.
Core passage idea
Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted workOrtega worries that mass society can inherit civilization without understanding the discipline that sustains it.
This helps users see a European anxiety about democracy, culture, expertise, and modernity.
To avoid a bubble
Pair with democratic egalitarian or socialist accounts of mass politics.
Reading note
Useful but elitist; read with democratic counterpoints.
Best paired with
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America.