Masses on the stages of democracy

Democratic promises and dangers in self-dramatizations of masses

Bibliographic Data

ID4834095
AuthorsChristiane Mossin (Copenhagen Business School, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume167
Issue1
Pages58-76
Publication date2021-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThesis Eleven (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0725-5136 • E-ISSN: 1461-7455
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/07255136211056991
OpenAlexW3214347706
LanguageEN
References cited18

The political significance of masses is more obvious than ever. The aim of this article is to develop a conceptualization capable of capturing the dangerous (totalitarian) as well as promising (potentially emancipatory) aspects of masses. It argues that, intricately, the dangers and fruitful potentials of masses are born out of the same fundamental structural features. We may differentiate analytically between different kinds of masses, but all masses contain elements of ambiguity. The mass conceptualization developed builds on a critical, deconstructing interpretation of selected Bataille texts centering on ontological features of individuality and collectivity. Especially, Bataille's concepts of 'myth' and 'sacrifice' are accentuated and critically transformed. Contemporary examples of masses - right-wing anti-establishment movements, Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter - are presented and reflected through the prism of sacrifice, with the aim of highlighting the multifaceted and complex nature of the dynamics of masses

Aesthetics · Ambiguity · Conceptualization · Democracy · Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Prism · Sacrifice · Sociology · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · Hannah Arendt's Political Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, and Politics

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