Mass society is a society in which the concerns of the majority – the lower social classes – play a prominent role, characterized by extension of voting rights, an improved standard of living for the lower classes and mass education. Less often, the term mass society is also used by sociologists simply to describe a large society - i.e. one composed of many individuals. For the song by the California punk band Pennywise, see Society (song). ... A majority is a subset of a group that is more than half of the entire group. ... The term working class is used to denote a social class. ... Suffrage is the civil right to vote, or the exercise of that right. ... The Standard of living refers to the quality and quantity of goods and services available to people. ... Mass education refers to a state-run educational system, usually free and compulsory, that aims to ensure that all children in society have at least a basic education. ...

The theory of mass society, cited by Daniel Bell in the first essay in The End of Ideology (1960) as being "probably the most influential social theory in the Western world today", is derived from several sources. Bell, after a survey of the diverse origins and permutations of the concept concludes it does not apply to modern American with its many diverse voluntary organizations. Daniel Bell Daniel Bell (born 10 May 1919) is a sociologist and professor emeritus at Harvard University. ... The End of Ideology: On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the Fifties is a book by Daniel Bell, first published in 1960. ...

C. Wright Mills in his book, The Power Elite describes society as being divided between the power elite and the masses who are controlled by them [1]. Mills describes the American theory that power arises from the public as a "fairy tale", arguing that autonomous public opinion arising from public discussion does not exist, rather a disorganized mass which is acted on by an elite through the mass media thus shaping the nature of "public opinion". The theory of mass society has heavily influenced public discourse on popular culture and even scholarly popular culture studies. Jump to: navigation, search Charles Wright Mills (August 28, 1916, Waco, Texas – March 20, 1962, Nyack, New York) was an American sociologist. ... The Power Elite is an influential book written by sociologist C. Wright Mills in 1956. ... Jump to: navigation, search Mass media is a term used to denote, as a class, that section of the media specifically conceived and designed to reach a very large audience (typically at least as large as the whole population of a nation state). ... Jump to: navigation, search This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Further reading

• Chapter 13 of The Power Elite under a claim of fair use

• Ortega y Gasset, Jose. The Revolt of the Masses, anonymous translation (1932). The Spanish original: La Rebelion de las Masas (1930).

• Tuttle, Howard N. The Crowd is Untruth: The Existential Critique of Mass Society in the Thought of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Ortega y Gassett (1996). (American University Studies: Ser. 5, Philosophy; Vol. 176) New York: Peter Lang. ISBN 0-8204-2866-3

José Ortega y Gasset José Ortega y Gasset (May 9, 1883 - October 18, 1955) was a Spanish philosopher. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1932 is a leap year starting on a Friday. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1930 is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

References

• Published simultaneously on Internet-Encyclopedia as the article, "Mass society" http://www.internet-encyclopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Mass_society