The Revolt of the Masses by {author}: summary and why it matters
Ortega y Gasset's 1930 diagnosis of mass man, who demands rights and comforts but accepts no duty, and the danger he poses to civilization.
Also known as La rebelión de las masas
The book
| Author | José Ortega y Gasset |
|---|---|
| First published | 1930 |
| First publisher | Revista de Occidente |
| Kind of book | Cultural criticism |
What it argues
Ortega, a Spanish philosopher, described a new type of person produced by modern prosperity: the mass man, who finds the conveniences of civilization as natural as air and does not ask where they came from. He claims rights as his due, feels no duty to maintain the order that supplies them, and resents any excellence that could set him under a standard.
Ortega says this is not a matter of class. A narrow specialist, expert in one field and complacent about the rest, can be as much a mass man as a laborer. When such people take over public life they favor direct action, force and the state, and the habits of free argument and restraint recede.
He wrote before the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War, and presents the rise of fascism and bolshevism as products of the same revolt.
Why it matters
The book is often cited by conservatives who worry about civic decay, entitlement and the loss of gratitude toward earlier generations. It should be read as a work of its time, with an aristocratic bias that not every reader will share.
About the author
Jose Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955) was a Spanish philosopher who taught at the University of Madrid and founded the journal Revista de Occidente. He was a member of the Cortes of the Second Republic but went into exile during the Spanish Civil War. The Revolt of the Masses began as a series of newspaper articles and was translated into English in 1932.
Who should read it
Readers interested in the sources of twentieth century cultural conservatism.
Sources
Profile last reviewed November 8, 2026