Ortega Y Gasset's "Revolt" and the Problem of Mass Rule (Critical Essay)

THE PRIMARY VIRTUE OF DEMOCRACY is that it bestows equality upon equals. Its main vice is that it also bestows equality upon unequals. In 1930, Jose Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955) published The Revolt of the Masses, in which he examined the political and social crisis of Europe, and of Western civilization generally. He was not the only thinker to recognize this crisis, but his assessment is particularly important since it locates the root cause in the widespread distribution of social power to the masses. (2) His evaluation, highly illuminating when it was written, is perhaps even more relevant in our time. The "revolt of the masses" continues and is gaining momentum as we proceed into the twenty-first century, and it consists in the social distribution of equality to everyone, irrespective of qualifications and individual merit-based characteristics. I