,

28 The Theory of Mass Society

DANIEL BELL

Thl8 .election prouides another per$p<ctive on the ide<u contained In the two
preceding articles. It 18 BeU's contention that there is no really substantial eoIdence
to shaw that our Wesiern world is becciming increasingly a "f7UlSS society"-stifling
and preventing the express/Qn of Indioidual interest. H. feels tMt "the theory
the moss society no longer serves ... a description of Western society, but as an
a'
Ideology of romantic protest against contemporary society." In developing this
thesi8, Bell ""amines and refutes some basic ......mptions widely held bV many
populor writer. and social scientisis.

The sense of a radical dehumanization some tew persons of achieving a sense of

of life which has accompanied events of
the past several decades has given rise
to the theory of "mass society." One can
say that, Marxism apart, it is probably
the most influential socia! therapy in the
Western world today. While no single in-
dividual has stamped his name on it-to
the extent that Marx is associated with
the transformation of personal relations
under capitalism into commodity values,
or Freud with the role .of the irrational
and unconscious in behavior-the theory
is central to the thinking of the principal
aristocratic, Catholic, or Existentialist crit-
ics of bourgeois society today. These
critics-Ortega y Gasset, Karl Mannheim,
Karl Jaspers, Paul Tillich, Gabriel Mar-
cel, EmIl Lederer, and others-have been
concerned, less with the general condi-
tions of freedom, than with the freedom
of the person, and with the possibility for
SOV1\CE: Reprinted from Com-menttutl. vot. 22,
no. 1 (July 1956), 7~. Copyright by the
American Jewish Committee. The essay also ap-
pears, in revised form, in Daniel Bell. The End
a' Ideology (Glencoe, llLTh. Free Press, 1950).
• The author is professor of sociology at Harvard
University and coeditor of ' The Public Interest.
His chief interests are industrial relations and
iIldustrial sociology, He is the' author of Ameri~
can Marxist Parties, Work in. the Life of an Amer~
icon, Work and I", Ditcontenl.r. and The lie.
forming of General Education.
individual seU in our mechanized society.
The conception of "mass society" can
be summarized as follows: The revolu-
tions in transport and communications
have brought men into closer contact
with each other and bound them in new
ways; the division of labor has made
them more interdependent; tremors in
one part of society affect all others. Des-
pite this greater interdependence, how-
ever, individuals have grown more es·
tranged from one another. The old
primary group ties of family and local
community hav,e been shattered; ancient
parochial faiths are questioned; few
unifying values have taken their place.
Most important, the critical standards of
an educated elite no longer shape opin-
ion or taste, As a result, mores and
morals are in constant Hux, relations be-
tween individuals are tangential or com-
partmentalized rather than organic. At
the same time greater mobility, spatial
and social, intensifies concern over status.
Instead of a fixed or known status sym-
bolized by dress or title, each person
assumes a multiplicity of roles and con-
stantly, has to prove himself in a succes-
sion of new situations. Because of all this.
the individual loses a coherent sense of
self. His anxieties increase. There ensues

193
 lH DANIEL BELL

a search for new faiths. The stage is thus go further and lll.ike "mass· Ii rather pe-
set for the charismatic leader, the secular jorative term. - Because the mass media
messiah, wbo, by bestowing upon each subject a diverse audience to a common
person the semblance of necessary grace, set of cultural materials, it is argued
and of fullness of personality, supplies a that these experiences must necessarily
substitute for the older unifying belief lie outside the personal-and therefore
that the mass society has destroyed. meaningful-experiences to which the in·
In a world of lonely crowds seeking in· dividual responds directly. A movie audio
dividual distinction, wbere Vli.Iues are ence, for example, is a ""mass· because
constantly translated into economic cal. the individuals looking at the screen are,
culabillties, where in extreme situatioDs in the words of the American sociologist
shame and conscience can no longer reo Herbert Blumer, "separate, detacbed,
strain the most dreadful excesses of terror, and anonymous.- TIle "mass" divorces
the theory of the mass society seems a -or "alienates"-the individual from
forceful, realistic description of contem· himself.
porary society, an accurate reflection of
the quality and feeling of modem Ufe.
But when one seeks to apply the theory Presumably a large number of individ·
of mass society analytically, it becomes uals, because they have been subjected
very slippery. Ideal types, Uke the shad· to similar experiences, now share some
ows in Plato's cave, generally never give common prychological reality in which
us more than a silhouette. So, too, with the differences between individual and
the theory of "mass society." Eacb of the individual become blurred; and accord·
statements making up the theory, as set ingly we get the sociological assumption
forth in the second paragraph above, that each person is now of "equal weight;"
might be true, but they do not follow and therefore a sampling of what such
necessarily from one another. Nor can we disparate individuals say they think con·
say that all conditions described are stitutes "mass opinion." But is this so? In·
present at anyone time or place. More dividuals are not tabulae rasae. They
than that, there is no organizing principle bring varying social conceptions to the
-other than the general concept of a same experience, and go away with dis·
"breakdown of values"-which puts the similar responses. They may be silent,
individual elements of theory together in separate, detached, and anonymous
a logical, meaningful-let alone historical while watching the movie, but afterward
-manner. And when we examine the Way -they talk about it with friends and ex·
the "theory" is used by those who ern· cbange opinions and judgments. They
ploy it, we find ourselves even more at are once again members of particular so-
a loss. cial groups. Would one say that several
As commonly used in the term "mass hundred or a thousand individuals home
media," "mass" implies that standardized alone at n,lght, but all reading the same -
material is transmitted to "all groups of book, constitutes a "mass·?
the population uniformly." As understood One could argue, of course, that read·
generally by SOCiolOgists, a mas:; is a heter· ing a book is a qualitatively different ex·
ogeneous and undifferentiated audience perience from going to a movie. But this
as opposed to a class, or any paroclUai leads precisely to the first damaging \Ull.
and relatively bomogeneous segment. biguity in the theory of the mass soclety.
Some sociologists have been tempted to Two things are mixed up in that theory;

-"
sa THE THEORY OF MASS SOCIE'l'Y 195
JI judgment as to the quality of modern groupi-business. farm. labor. veterans.
experience-with much of which any trade ' associations. the aged. etc.. etc.-
sensitive individual would agree-and a but thousands more are like the National
presumed scientillc statement concerning Association for the Advancement of Col-
the disorganization of society created by ored People. the American Civil Liberties
industrialization and by the demand of Union. the League of Women Voters. the
the masses for equality. It is the second American Jewish Committee. the Parent-
of these statel)1ents with which this essay Teachers Associations. local community-
quarrels, not the first. improvement groups. and so on. each of
Behind the tbeory of social disorgani- which affords hundreds of individuals
zation lies a romantic notion of the past concrete, emotionally shared activities.
that sees society as baving once been Equally astonishing are the number of
made up of small 'organic: close-knit ethnic group organizations in this country
communities (called Gemelnschaften in carrying on varied cultural, social, and
the terminology of tbe sociologists) that political activities. The number of Irlsh.
were sbattered by industrialism and mod- Italian. Jewisb, Polish. Czech. Finnish.
ern life, and replaced by a large imper- Bulgarian. Bessarabian. and other na-
sonal "atomistic· society (called Ge.eU- tional groups. their hundreds of fraternal•
• chaft) which is unable to provide the communal. and political groups. each play-
basic gratillcations and call forth the ing a role in the life of America, is stag-
loyalties that the older communities gering. In December 1954. for example.
knew. when the lssue of Cyprus was first placed
..... before the United Nations. the Justice for
Cyprus Committee. "an organization of
It is asserted that the United States is American citizens," according to its
an "atomized" society composed of lonely, statement. took a full-page advertisement
isolated individuals. One forgets the tru- in the New York Times t() plead the
ism, expressed sometimes as a jeer, that right of that small island to self-deter-
Americans are a nation of joiners. There mination. Among the groups listed in the
are in the United States today at least Justice for Cyprus C()mmittee were: the
200,000 voluntary organizations, associa- Order of Ahepa. the Daughters of Penel-
tions, clubs. societies. lodges. and frater- ope. thePan-Laconian Federation. the
nities with an aggregate (but obviously Cretan Federation. the Pan-Me.sian Fed-
overlapping) membersbip of close to eration, the Pan-Icarian Federation. the
eighty million men and women. In no Pan-Epirotlc Federation of America, the
other country in the world. probably. is Pan-Tbracian AsSociation. the Pan-Elian
there such a h;gh degree of voluntary Federation of America. the Dodecanesian
communal activity. expressed sometimes League of America. the Pan-Macedonian
in absurd rituals. yet often providing real Association of America. the Pan-Sarnian
satisfactions for real needs. Association, the Federation of Sterea
"It is natural for the ordinary Ameri- Elias. the Cyprus Federation of America.
can; wrote Gunnar Myrdal. "when he the Pan-Arcadian Federation. the GAPA.
sees something that is wrong to feel not and the Federation of Hellenic Organi-
only that there should be a law against zatiODS.
it, but also that an organization should be We can be sure that if. in a free world.
formed to combat it." Some of these the question of the territorial affiIiati()n of
voluntary organizations are pressure Ruthenia were to come up before the
J
196
Uniteq Nations, dozens of Hungarian, Ru-
manian, Ukrainian, Slovakian, and Czech
'organizations of American citizens" would
rush eagerly into print to plead the jus-
,tice of the claims of their respective home-
lands to Ruthenia.
EVen in urban neighborhoods, where
anonymity is presumed to Hourish, the
extent of local ties is astounding. Within
the city limits of Chicago, for example,
there are eighty-two community news-
papers with a total weekly circulation
of almost 1,000,000; within Chicago's
,larger metropolitan area, there are 181.
According to standard sociological theory,
these local papers providing news and
gossip about neighbors should slowly de-
cline under the pressure of the national
media. Yet the reverse is true. In 'Chicago,
the nwnber of such newspapers has in-
creased 165 per cent since 1910; in those
forty years circulation has jumped 770
per cent As sociologist Morris Janowitz,
who studied these community newspa-
pers, observed: "If society were as imper-
sonal, as self-centered and banen as de-
scribed by some who are preoccupied
with the one-way trend from 'Gemein-
schaft' to 'Gesell.chaft' seem to believe,
the levels of criminality, social disorgani-
zation and psychopathology which social
science seeks to account for would have
to be viewed as very low rather than
(as viewed now) alarmingly high."
It may be argued that the existence of
such a large network of voluntary asso-
ciations says little about the cultural level
of the country concerned. It may well be,
as Ortega maintains, that cultural stan-
dards throughout the world have de-
clined (in everything-architecture, dress,
deSign?), but nonetheless a greater pro-
portion of the population today partici-
pates in worth-while cultural activities.
This has been ahoost an inevitable con-
comitant of the douhling-literally-of the
American standard of living over the last
I _ _
DANIEL BELL
fifty yeafs. The rising levels of education
have meant rising appreciation of cul-
ture. In the United States more dollars
are spent on concerts of classical music
than on basebaO. Sales of books have
doubled in a decade. There are over a
thousand symphony orchestras, and sev-
eral hundred museums, institutes, and
colleges purchasing art in the United
States today. Various other indices can he
cited to show the growth of a vast middle-
brow society. , And in coming years, with
steadily increasing productivity and lei-
sure, the United States will become even
more actively a "conswner" of culture....
It has been argued that the American
mass society imposes an excessive con-
formity upon its memberS. But it is hard
to discern who is conforming to what. The
New Republic cries that "hucksters are
sugar-coating the culture." The National
Reoiew, organ of the "radical right,"
raises the banner of iconoclasm against the
liberal domination of opinion-fonn.tion
in our society. fortune decries the growth
of "organization man." Each of these ten-
dencies exists, yet in historical perSpec-
tive, there is probably less conformity to
an over-all mode of conduct today than
at any time within the last half-century
in America. True, there is less bohe-
mianism than in the twenties (though
increased sexual tolerance), and less po-
litical radicalism than in the thirties
(though the New Deal enacted sweeping
reforms). But does the arrival at a politi-
cal dead-center mean the establishment,
too, of a ' dead nonn'? I do not think so.
One would be hard put to it to find today
the "confonnity" Main Street exacted of
Carol Kennicott thirty years ago. With
rising educational levels, more individuals
are able to indulge a wider variety of
interests. ("Twenty years ago you
couldn't sell Beethoven out of New York,"
reports a record salesman. "Today we sell
Palestrina, Monteverdi, Gabrielli, and
28 THE THEORY OF MASS SOCIETY 197
Renaissance and Baroque music in large -and innovation "huilt into" its culture.
quantitieS." ) Almost alI' human societies, traditionalist
One hears, too, the complaint that di- and habit-ridden as they have been and
vorce, crime. and violence demonstrate a still are, tend to resist change. The great
widespread social disorganization in the cHorts to industrialize underdeveloped
country. But the rising number of di- countries, increase worker mobility in
vorces . . . indicates not the disruption of Europe, and broaden markets-so neces·
the family, but a freer, more individualis- sary to the raising of productivity and
tic basis of choice, and the emergence of standards of living-are again and again
the "oompanionship" marriage. And as re- frustrated by ingrained resistance to
gards crime . . . , there is actually much" change. Thus in the Soviet Union change
Ie.. crime and violence (though more vi- has been introduced only by dint of whole-
carious violence through movies and TV. sale coercion. In the United States-a
and more "windows" onto crime, through culture with no feudal tradition; with a
the press) than was the ""se twenty.five pragmatic ethos, as expressed by JcHer-
and Sfty years ago. Certainly, Chlcago, son, that regards God as a "workman"';
San Francisoo, and New York were much with a boundless optimism and a restless
rougher and tougher cities in those years. eagerness for the new that has been bred
But violent crime, which is usually a out of the original conditions of a huge,
lower~class phenomenon, was then con· richly endowed land-change, and the
.Wned within the ecological boundaries readiness to change, have become the
of the slum; hence one can recall quiet, norm. This indeed may be why those
tree·lined, crime-free areas and feel that consequences of change predicted by
the tenor of life was more even in the theorists basing themselves on European
past. But a cursory look at the accounts precedent find small con6rmation.
of those days-the descriptions of the The mass society is the product of
gang wars. bordellos, and street-fighting change-and is itself change. But the
in San Francisco's Barbary Coast, New theory of the mass society alfords us _no
York's Five Points, or Chicago's - First view of the relations of the parts of the
Ward-would show how much more vio· society to each other that would enable us
lent in the past the actual life of those to locate the sources of change. We may
cities was. not have enough data on which to sketch
At this point it becomes quite apparent an alternative theory, but I would argue
that such large-scale abstractions as "the that certain key factors, in this country
mass society" with the implicit diagnoses at least, deserve to be much more closely
of social disorganization and decay that examined than they have been.
derive from them, are rather meaningless The change from -11 society once geared
without standards of comparison. Social to frugal saving and now impelled- to
and cultural change is probably greater spend dizzily; the break-up of family cap-
and more rapid today in the United italism, with the consequent impact on
States than in any other country. but the corporate structure and political power;
assumption that social disorder and the centralization of decision-making, po-
anomie inevitably attend such change is litically, in the state and, economically,
not borne out in this case. in a group of large corporate bodies; the
This may be owing to the singular fact rise of status and symbol groups replacing
that the United States Is probably the specillc interest groups-indicate that
Srst large SOCiety in history to have change new social forms are in the making, and
198
with them still greater changes in the
complexion of 'life imder mass society,
With these may , well come new status
anxieties-aggravated by the threats 01
war-changed character structures, and
D~W moral tempers.
The moralist may have his reserva-
tions or give approval-as some see in the
break-up 01 the family the loss of a sonree
of essential values, while others see in the
new, freer marriages a healthier form of
companionsbi[>-but the singular lact ,is
that these changes emerge in a society
that is now providing one answer to the
great challenge posed to Western-and
now world-society over the last two hun-
dred years: how, within the framework of
Ireedom, to increase the living standards
of the majority of people, and at the same
time ma.intain or raise cultural levels.
American society, for all its shortcomings,
Its speed, its commercialism, its corrup-
DANIEL BELL
tion, still, I ' believe, shows us the most
humane way.
The theory of the mass society no longer
serves as a description of Western so-
ciety, but as an ideology of romantic pra-
test against contemporary society, This is
a time when other areas of the globe
are beginning to fonow in the paths 01
the West, which may be all to the good
as lar 'as material things are concerned;
but many 01 the economically underde-
veloped countries, especially in Asia, have
caught up the shopworn sell-critical
Western ideologies 01 the 19th oentury
and are using them against the West, to
whose "materialism" they oppose their
"spirituality." What these Asian and our
own intellectuals fail to realize, perhaps,
is that one may be a thoroughgoing critic
of one's own society without being , an
enemy of its promises.
 ~ THE THEORY OF MASS SOCIETY
Renaissance and Baroque music in large
quantitieS.")
One hears, too, the complaint that di·
vorce, crime, and violence demonstrate a
widespread social disorganization in the
coUntry. But the rising number of di-
vorces ... indicates not the disruption of
the family, but a freer, more individualis-
tic basis of cboice, and the emergence of
the "companionship" marriage. And as re-
gards crime ... , there is actually much·
less crime and violence (though more vi·
carious violence through movies and TV.
and more -windows" ooto crime, through
the press) than was the case twenty-five
and fifty years ago. Certainly, Chicago,
San Francisco, and New York were much
rougher and tougher cities in those years.
., But violent crime, which is usually a
lower-class phenomenon. was then coo-
tained within the ecological boundaries
of the slum; hence one can recall quiet,
tree-lined, crime-free areas and feel that
the tenor of life was more even in the
past. But a cursory look at the accounts
of those days-the descriptions of the
gang wars, bordellos, and street-fighting
in San Francisco's Barbary Coast, New
York's Five Points, or Chicago's , First
Ward-would show how much more vio-
lent in the past the actual life of those
cities was.
At this point it becomes quite apparent
that mch large-scale abstractions as "the
mass society" with the implicit diagnoses
of social disorganization and decay that
derive from them, are rather meaningless
without standards of comparison. Social
and cultural change is probably greater
and more rapid today in the United
States than in any other country, but the
assumption that social disorder and
anomie inevitably attend such change is
not borne out in this case.
This may be owing to the singular fact
that the United States is probably the
first large society In history to have change
197 1:
and fnnovation "built into" its cultur•.
Almost ;'Jf human societies, traditionalist
and habit-ridden as they have been and
still are, tend to resist change. The great
efforts to industrialize underdeveloped
countries, increase worker mobility in
Europe, and broaden markets-so neces-
sary to the raising of productivity and
standards of living-are again and again
frustrated by ingrained resistance to
change. Thus in the Soviet Union change
bas been introduced only by dint of whole-
sale coercion. In the United States-a
culture with no feudal tradition; with a
pragmatic ethos, as expressed by Jeffer-
son, that regards God as a "workman";
with a boundless optimism and a restless
eagerness for the new that has been bred
out of the original conditions of a huge,
richly endowed land-change, and the
readiness to change, have become the
norm. This indeed may be why those
consequences of change predicted by
theorists basing themselves on European
precedent find small confirmation.
The mass society is the product of
change-and is itself cbange. But the
theOf1J of the mass society affords us .no
view of the relations of the parts of the
society to each other that would enable us
to locate the sources of change. We may
not have enough data on which to sketch
an alternative theary, but I would argue
that certain. key factors, in this country
at least, deserve to be much more closely
examined than they have been.
The cbange from a society once geared
to frugal saving and now impelled' to
spend dizzily; the break-up of family cap-
italism, with the consequent impact on
corporate structure and political power;
the centralization of decision-making, po-
litically, in the state and, economically,
in a group of large corporate bodies; the
rise of status and symbol groups replacing
specific interest groups-indicate that
new social forms are in the making, and
198
with them still greater changes in the
complexion of 'life under mass Society.
With. these may . well come new status
aIllCieties-aggravated by the threats of
war--ehanged character structures, and
new moral tempers.
The .moralist may have his reserva-
tions 01 give approval-as some see in the
break.up of the family the loss of a source
of essential values, while others see in the
new, freer marriages a healthier form of
companionshlp-but the singular fact ·is
that these changes emerge in a society
that- is now providing one answer to the
great challenge posed to Western-and
now world-society over the last two bun-
dred years: bow, within the framework of
freedom, to increase the living standards
of the majority of people, and at the same
time maintain or raise cultural levels.
American society, for all its shortcomings,
its speed, its commercialism: its corrup-
DANIEL BELL
tion, still, I believe; sbows us the most
humane way. .
The theory of the mass society no longer
serves as a description of Western so-
ciety, but as an ideology of romantic pro-
test against contemporary society. This is
a time when other areas of the globe
are beginning to foDow in the paths of
the West, whlcb may be all to the good
as far "as material things are concerned;
but many of the economicaDy underde-
veloped countries, especially in Asia, have
caught up the shopworn seU-critical
Western ideologies of the 19th century
and are using them against the West, to
whose "materialism" they oppose their
"'spirituality." What these Asian and our
own intellectuals fail to realize, perhaps,
is that one may be a thoroughgoing critic
of one's own society withont being an
enemy of its promises.