ABSTRACT
Aristocratic and democratic critics of mass society agree that individual freedom is threatened by the growth of mass relations even as they differ on the nature of these relations. Aristocratic theorists diagnose mass society as a state of decline in authority, with the lack of traditional restraints on the popular exercise of power that this implies. They generally believe that mass society invites dictatorship based on mass support. Aristocratic and democratic critics alike believe that mass society is vulnerable to totalitarianism, rather than to traditional forms of dictatorship. Mass movements against democracy must be sharply distinguished from traditional movements against democracy. The decline of community and association creates the opportunity for mass movements to smash all institutional restraints on power and to transform the scope of power. Major discontinuities in social process produce mass movements by destroying pre-established intermediate relations and by preventing the formation of new associations aligned with the social order.
