ABSTRACT
Mass movements depend for their success on the weakness of existing institutions and on the intensive support of large numbers of people. This chapter attempts to account for the kinds of people who flock to mass movements, especially during periods of acute crisis. It shows that totalitarian movements in particular mobilize people who are "available" by virtue of being socially alienated. The theory of mass society seeks to account for certain fundamental characteristics of totalitarian movements by contrasting them with established political parties. Mass theory leads to the expectation that the unattached arid alienated of all classes are more attracted to extremist symbols and leaders than are their class-rooted counterparts. In France and Italy, where the working class is poorly related to the social order, Communist movements are large and predominantly proletarian; whereas in Britain and the United States, where the working class is much less isolated from the society, Communist movements are small and ethnic.
