Ortega y gAsset and the Theory of the Masses

• Date: 01 September 1961
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296101400304
• Published date: 01 September 1961
• Author: Manuel Maldonado-Denis
• Subject Matter: Articles

676

ORTEGA

Y

GASSET

AND

THE

THEORY

OF

THE

MASSES

MANUEL

MALDONADO-DENIS

Universidad

de

Puerto

Rico

MONG

those

anti-democratic

theories

that

have

claimed

the

attention

~-~

of

the

Western

world,

the

theory

of

the

Elite

must

be

given

special

A

attention.

For

it is

the

main

contention

of

this

school

of

thought

that

democracy

as

such

is

an

impossibility,

that

all

rule

is

rule

by

a

minority

or

an

elite.

By

asserting

this

proposition

the

Elitists

seek

to

do

away

with

one

of

the

fundamental

premises

upon

which

democracy

is

founded,

namely,

that

the

ulti-

mate

power

of

decision

always

rests

with

the

people,

and

that

they

exercise

this

power

either

directly

or

through

their

elected

representatives.

Theorists

like

Mosca,

Pareto,

and

Michels

denied

that

the

latter

statement

was

a

true

descrip-

tion

of

social

reality.

Pareto,

for

example,

believed

that

every

society

is

ruled

by

a

minority

that

possesses

the

qualities

necessary

for

the

accession

to

full

social

and

political

power.

Those

who

get

on

top

are

always

the

best:

they

are

the

&dquo;elite&dquo;

-

and

there

occurs

a

process

of

&dquo;circulation

of

the

elites&dquo;

in

terms

of

which

new

segments

of

the

population

are

gradually

absorbed

by

the

ruling

elite

in

order

to

survive.

The

composition

of

the

ruling

class

generally

fluctuates

between

the

&dquo;lions&dquo;

and

the

&dquo;foxes&dquo;:

the

former

are

generally

conservative,

do

not

hesitate

to

use

force,

and

are

strongly

attached

to

the

nation;

the

latter

are

crafty

and

live

by

their

wits,

relying

on

fraud

and

deceit.

The

ruling

class

is

consequently

divided

into

two

segments

or

strata;

and

it

was

Pareto’s

belief

that

in

order

to

justify

or

rationalize

their

use

of

power

the

elites

have

recourse

to

what

he

called

&dquo;deri-

vations,&dquo;

which

are

myths

created

by

the

ruling

class

as

a

means

of

duping

the

masses

into

subservience.

Pareto’s

&dquo;derivations&dquo;

had

their

counterpart

in

Mosca’s

theory

of

&dquo;the

political

formula.&dquo;

I

For

Mosca

as

well

as

for

Pareto

there

was

always

as

a

matter

of

fact

in

every

society

a

ruling

class

and

a

ruled

class,

and

the

former

sought

to

shroud

its

rule

in

the

guise

of

a

&dquo;political

formula&dquo;

or

myth.

Instead

of

asserting

like

Pareto

that

there

is

in

every

society

a

struggle

for

power,

Mosca

thought

that

it

was

a

&dquo;struggle

for

pre-eminence&dquo;

that

led

even-

tually

to

the

emergence

of

a

ruling

class

in

every

society.

This

ruling

class,

as

NOTE:

jos6

Ortega

y

Gasset

(1883-1955),

considered

by

many

as

the

greatest

philosopher

of

the

Spanish-speaking

world,

was

born

in

Madrid,

where

he

returned

after

several

years

of

exile

in

1947,

and

died

in

1955.

He

studied

at

Marburg,

Leipzig,

and

Berlin,

and

it

was

through

him

that

the

main

currents

of

German

philosophy

came

to

fertilize

Spanish

thought.

A

great

many

of

his

philosophical

works

(such

as

The

Revolt

of

the

Masses,

published

in

1930)

first

saw

the

public

light

as

newspaper

articles.

Ortega

founded

the

excellent

journal

Re-

vista

de

Occidente

(1923)

where

he,

together

with

Europe’s

greatest

minds,

contributed

to

the

discussion

of

the

great

issues

that

were

facing

the

world

at

the

time.

Revista

de

Oc-

cidente

became

the

editorial

center

for

the

translation

into

Spanish

of

the

most

important

philosophical,

scientific,

and

historical

works

written

in

other

languages,

as

well

as

the

intellectual

center

of

the

Spanish-speaking

world.

On

his

return

to

Spain,

Ortega

founded

the

&dquo;Instituto

de

Humanidades&dquo;

at

Madrid,

an

institution

that

is

still

carried

on

through

the

efforts

of

his

disciples.

To

Ortega’s

collected

works

(6

vols.),

there

are

being

added

at

present

his

unedited

works,

of

which

six

volumes

have

already

appeared.

1

In

the

exposition

of

Pareto’s

thought,

I

am

indebted

to

David

Easton’s

"The

Theory

of

the

Elite,

a

Study

of

Elitist

Trends

in

the

Nineteenth

Century"

(Ph.D.

dissertation,

Harvard

University,

1947);

and

to

J.

H.

Hallowell’s

Main

Currents

of

Modern

Political

Thought

(New

York:

Holt,

1950),

pp.

536-44.