official ideology of the SOVIET UNION, or Russian Stalin-
ist Orthodoxy.
Mass Society
The emergence of mass society is mainly a late 19th-
and 20th-century phenomenon. The term refers to a
society or nation where linguistic, regional, economic,
religious, and other differences have been blurred and
a majority class that embraces similar values and
norms has emerged. There is also a strong economic
component in that the populations in mass societies
use the same or similar products and respond to mass
marketing. Politically, leaders and political ELITESin
the 20th century have taken advantage of new media
such as radio and television to control ideas and news
and to distribute propaganda in highly effective means.
Concurrent with the increase in wages and decrease
in working hours (all the result of the industrial revo-
lution in Western Europe and the United States), there
began to emerge a leisure class that had both dispos-
able income and a significant amount of time to devote
to activities other than work. In many ways, the evolu-
tion of the MODERNmass society would be spearheaded
by the United States and its growing middle class.
Spurred by the economic boom of the 1920s, new
technologies, such as the radio and the Hollywood
movie, and new forms of advertising created a con-
sumer culture that promoted specific products and
lifestyles. The impact of advertising on society did not
go unnoticed by political leaders who began to use
propaganda to great affect, especially as society became
more uniform in its expectations and goals. In Ger-
many and Italy, the FASCISTregimes’ use of propaganda,
and even Franklin D. ROOSEVELT’s use of techniques
such as the press conference and the “fireside chat,”
were demonstrative of the effectiveness of reaching
mass societies through emerging media.
The cold war can be viewed as a contest between
two competing visions of mass society. The SOVIET
UNIONendeavored to create a state, based on Marxism,
that would eliminate economic classes and instead
form one mass class. Concurrently, the progressive tax
system of the United States and growing antipoverty
programs contributed to an enormous middle class
that has dominated American politics since the 1950s.
The continuing trend toward mass society and
mass culture is not without its critics. For instance,
writing in the 1940s, Theodor W. ADORNO correctly
forecast the eventual emergence of a giant “culture
industry” in which advertising, politics, and the vari-
ous forms of entertainment would be merged together.
Other critiques of mass society have centered on the
philosophical merits of the movement. For instance,
one of the main themes of U.S. culture has tradition-
ally been INDIVIDUALISM. By its very nature, however,
mass society tends to lessen the value of individual
choice and distinctiveness by promoting uniformity in
appearance and habit. Concurrently, mass society also
reinforces the tyranny of the majority through various
mechanisms. Hence, the counterculture of the 1960s
United States, which was initiated as a protest against
the mainstream, eventually became coopted by the
mass society so that its music, dress, language, and so
forth were absorbed into the mainstream.
The increasing globalization of the world’s econ-
omy also reflects such trends as the exchange of music,
ideas, and other aspects of culture through new media
such as the internet and, as increasingly large multina-
tional corporations come to dominate markets, may
mark the emergence of a global mass society. The
demise of MARXISMas a viable political entity has meant
that the main values of the United States—democracy
and free-market capitalism—have been broadly
accepted by the world community. Francis Fukuyama
writes that this new era marks the “end of history” as
we know it (and in the Hegelian sense), in that history
thus far has been centered around the struggle for
equality and full participation in government. With
these ideals now generally accepted, the mass societies
of the world have formed a political consensus on gov-
ernment.Further Reading
Fukuyama, F. The End of History and the Last Man.New York:
Free Press, 1992.Mayflower Compact
The political document written by the PURITANAmeri-
can settlers in New England in 1620 and considered
the first SOCIAL CONTRACTin the United States. Reflect-
ing the Calvinist CHRISTIANoutlook of these English
immigrants to America, the compact declares the set-
tlement to be “For the glory of God, and advancement
of the Christian faith.” Adhering to a COVENANTview of
religion and politics, these Puritans agreed to
“covenant and combine ourselves together into a body
politic... for the general good of the colony.” Forty-204 Mass Society