Masses (also the masses of the people or people ) is a political cliche used by some authors to refer to the poorly educated part of the population , which usually consists of manual workers and members of their families.
Content
Concept in various states and countries.
In ancient Greece, the people were designated by the word demos , however, with the development of slavery, the word "demos" began to mean only a mass of free citizens who might not even be the majority.
In France, during the time of absolutism, the people coincided with the third estate . However, more often people do not coincide with any class or class, but encompass several classes at once.
Haiming ( 平民 lit. - simple people ) - 3rd estate in Japan after 1872. Reform of 1872 instead of the previous division into 4 estates (samurai, peasants, artisans, merchants) singled out 3: the highest nobility (kazoku), untitled nobility ( Shizoku) and the masses (Haiming), which included the pariah caste (this) formally liquidated in August 1871. Although the law of 1872 established the formal equality of all classes, and in 1873 marriages were allowed between their representatives, in general, the haiming remained a powerless class. However, its top - the big bourgeoisie strengthened its influence, and some of its representatives acquired the titles.
Concept in various teachings
In Marxism, the people are considered the creator of history. “Using the word:“ people, ”Marx did not obscure the class differences with this word, but united certain elements that could bring the revolution to the end” (see V. I. Lenin, Poln. Sobr. Soch., 5th ed., Vol. 26, p. . 58).
In Russia in the XIX century, among the intelligentsia, sympathy for the people and the desire for their liberation began to gain strength (see also the article Narodism ). The theme of the people played a particularly large role in the works of N. A. Nekrasov , A. Ya. Herzen , and L. N. Tolstoy . Organizations, parties and movements appeared, proclaiming the goal of liberation of the people: in the 19th century - the People’s Reprisal , the People’s Will , anarchists and others, at the beginning of the 20th century - the Party of People’s Freedom , the Party of People’s Socialists and others.
The authorities of various republics rule, or claim to rule, on behalf of the people. Moreover, many socialist countries called themselves people's republics . Populism is a general concept for various political trends that claim to represent a people, usually with the meaning that they serve a simple people, not an elite , that is, superiors.
According to the American social scientist Eric Hoffer, the concept of "the masses" ( Eng. Common people - "simple people") can apply to any individuals, regardless of level of education and culture, acting under the influence of elementary impulses and unreceptive to the arguments of the mind [1] . Such behavior (“dissolution in the mass”), according to Hoffer, leads to a decrease in the mental abilities of the participants [1] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Hoffer, 2017 , p. ten.
Literature
- The common people: a history from the Norman Conquest to the present JFC Harrison Fontana Press (1989)
- The concept of class: a historical introduction Peter Calvert Palgrave Macmillan (1985)
- E. HOFFER. Convinced Man: Personality, Power, and Mass Movement = “The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements.” - M .: Alpina Non-fiction, 2017 .-- 200 p. - 2000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-9614-6093-3 .