The Revolt Of The Masses

147 Pages·4.329 MB·English

by  José Ortega y Gasset

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
POLITICAL PROTEST
Volume 21
THE REVOLT OF THE MASSES

THE REVOLT OF THE MASSES
JOSÉ ORTEGA Y GASSET
Thiseditionfirstpublishedin2022
byRoutledge
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RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
FirstpublishedinSpanishin1930
FirstpublishedinGreatBritainin1932
Secondedition1951
Firstpublishedinthiseditionin1961byGeorgeAllen&UnwinLtd
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ISBN:978-1-03-203038-8(Set)
ISBN:978-1-00-319086-8(Set)(ebk)
ISBN:978-1-03-203596-3(Volume21)(hbk)
ISBN:978-1-03-203597-0(Volume21)(pbk)
ISBN:978-1-00-318812-4(Volume21)(ebk)
DOI:10.4324/9781003188124
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JOSE ORTEGA Y GASSET
THE REVOLT OF THE MASSES
The translator, at his own request
remains anonymous
LONDON
GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD
First published in Spanish 1930
First published in Great Britain 1932
Second edition 1951
First published in this edition 1961
This book is copyright under the Berne
Convention. Apart from any fair dealing for
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criticism or review^ as permitted under the
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PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
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PREFATORY NOTE
I have treated the subject developed in the
present essay in my book Espana Invertebrada,
published in 1922, in an article in El Sol entitled
'Masas' (1926), and in two lectures given to the
Association of Friends of Art in Buenos Aires
(1928). My purpose now is to collect and com-
plete what I have already said, so as to produce
an organic doctrine concerning the most impor-
tant fact of our time.

CONTENTS
i The Coming of the Masses 9
ii The Rise of the Historic Level 15
in The Height of the Times 22
iv The Increase of Life 29
v A Statistical Fact 36
vi The Dissection of the Mass-Man Begins 41
vii Noble Life and Common Life, or Effort and
Inertia 46
viii Why the Masses Intervene in Everything, and
Why Their Intervention Is Solely by
Violence 52
ix The Primitive and the Technical 59
x Primitivism and History 67
xi The Self-Satisfied Age 74
xii The Barbarism of "Specialization9 82
xni The Greatest Danger, the State 88
xiv Who Rules in the World? 96
xv We Arrive at the Real Question 142