How the mass man and mass culture destroy national identity
In the 20th century, power and culture, according to many philosophers, psychologists and cultural scientists, ended up in the hands of the so-called "mass". But what is the "mass"? The "mass" is not a people or a nation, but a certain social community, an impersonal collective formed by internally unconnected, alien and indifferent individuals. The most typical example of the mass is the crowd. The mass is sometimes called "a crowd of the lonely", and the 20th century is called "the century of crowds".
A social phenomenon that is based on the priorities of the masses is called a mass society. According to the “diagnosis” made by the German sociologist Karl Mannheim back in the 30s, “the fundamental changes that we are witnessing today are ultimately explained by the fact that we live in a mass society.” This society owes its emergence to the growth of large industrial cities, the processes of industrialization and urbanization [1].
The social basis of a mass society is not citizens free in their decisions and actions, but rather groups of people indifferent to each other, brought together by purely formal characteristics and grounds. Being a purely functional formation, the mass does not have its own internally unifying program of action (it always receives the latter from outside). The mass has nothing in its soul that it could consider its common value and sacred thing [1].
The process of massification of culture was generated by mass media and communications, as well as by globalization processes. In essence, globalization was called upon to destroy national identity, to destroy the cultural values of peoples.
Massification and the mass man
Massification can be interpreted as a process of social change, the result of which was a special type of society, called mass society, which served as an object of interest for many theorists. In the works of J. de Maistre, L. G. A. Banald, E. Burke, A. de Tocqueville, the idea of "massification" is considered from the perspective of the problem of freedom, to the strangulation of which, to a kind of "perverted equality", or "equality in slavery", leads the desire to reduce everyone to the level of the masses" [2].
A person living in such a society is characterized by an externalistically oriented social character. The goals of a person with such a character change depending on the people he or she is oriented towards, the only constant is the dependence on others and the approval of others. His or her orientations are in constant flux, they are infinitely varied and changeable - like a locator, an individual scans the surrounding information and event sphere and reacts to the strongest signals. A person oriented from the outside strives primarily for adaptation, conformism.
D. Bell in his work “The End of Ideology” notes that, firstly, the characteristic features of the “mass man” are conformism, “herd exaltation”, irresponsibility, loss of individuality. The consumption of information disseminated by the media is carried out by all groups of the population in a uniform manner, in connection with which D. Bell concludes that the media create “their own” mass man, different from the real one [2].
Mass society is characterized, among other things, by: mass, large-scale production, controlled by gigantic bureaucratic apparatuses; mass consumption, which is the distinctive feature of mass societies; mass culture and the media that dominate it; mass access to all spheres of social life; an alienated and isolated individual.
It is worth noting that the modern "mass" differs from the traditional understanding of "people", and the "elite" differs from the previous understanding of "intelligentsia". G. Le Bon in his work "Psychology of Peoples and Masses" says that the following factors are most significant for influencing mass consciousness: the power of ideas, emotions, visual images and the role of the leader. It is from the authorities today that the main ideas and attitudes that guide the views of the masses emanate. But even the authorities that determine the paths of development of modern society and set standards of consumption, today consist mainly of educated representatives of the same masses [3].
The main value of a mass society is not individual freedom, but power, which differs from traditional power – monarchical and aristocratic – in its ability to govern people. Power in a mass society is as impersonal, as depersonalized, as society itself. These are no longer just rulers whose names everyone knows, but a corporation of people hidden from the public eye who govern the country – the “ruling elite” [1].
Mass culture is the instrument of power of mass society over people. Being designed for mass perception, addressing not each individual but huge audiences, it sets its task to evoke in people a uniform, unambiguous, identical reaction for all. The national composition of this audience does not have any significant significance.
Mass Culture and Globalization
Mass culture as a dominant type of culture arises as a result of the process of massification of society. Mass culture differs from both high elite culture and so-called folk culture. Standardized mass culture creates a total social universe on a national-state scale. Within the framework of mass culture, basic value orientations, collective feelings, standards of behavior, styles, and fashion are formed. They are broadcast by the media to the entire society as a whole, without taking into account social differences, geographic place of residence, family and religious affiliation [2].
Mass culture and mass media are a kind of "weapons» globalization. Through them, globalization influences almost all spheres of life.
In a global society, the massification of culture has reached previously unseen proportions. Leveling trends eliminate fundamental differences (including ethnic differences) between people in all developed societies. In a mass society, an individual becomes like a grain of sand, indistinguishable from other similar creatures. He loses his individuality. A society conquered by mass culture turns into a consumer society [4].
Mass culture, having gone beyond the boundaries of national culture, acquired, in essence, a cosmopolitan character. When culture became a market, it immediately lost the ability to preserve cultural identity.
This explains why the majority of Western intellectuals saw the main enemy of culture in the masses. After all, the cosmopolitan city with its impersonal masses is replacing the national forms of people's life. In such an unsuitable environment, culture simply dies, and what is called culture has no direct relation to it [1].
Thus, through mass culture, a mass man is created, deprived of roots and identity.
References
[1]. See Russia in the Dialogue of Cultures / eds. A.A. Guseinov, A.V. Smirnov, B.O. Nikolaichev. – Moscow: Nauka, 2010.
[2]. Globalization and social institutions: a sociological approach / [N.I. Lapin, I.F. Devyatko, V.N. Fomina et al.; ed. I.F. Devyatko, V.N. Fomina], Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences. – Moscow: Nauka, 2010.
[3]. Pisarevskaya N. S. “The Mass Man” as a Socio-Cultural Phenomenon of the 2016th Century: Conference Proceedings. // New Word in Science: Development Prospects: Proceedings of the VIII International Scientific and Practical Conf. – Cheboksary: Scientific Cooperation Center “Interactive Plus”, 54. – P. 56-XNUMX
[4]. Mukhlynkina Yu.V. Ethnic identity in the era of globalization// Scientific news. - 2008. - No. 8 (48). - P. 233-244.
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