ABSTRACT
A recurring subject of George Mosse’s work in cultural history—and at the same time a seminal aspect of his own historiographic contribution—has been that of “popular culture.” This term has connoted for Mosse less a rationalistic methodology characterizing the ethereal realm of the history of great ideas and philosophical systems, and more a decidedly historical analysis of ideas and symbols that have moved large numbers of people and supported group identity. More particularly germane to the subject of this chapter is Mosse’s emphasis on the pointed reaction of intellectuals, both on the Left and Right, to the seemingly ineluctable ascension of “mass man” as a social and political force in Europe at the turn of the twentieth century. 1
