The mass society in Hannah Arendt: between modern and contemporary

Author(s)

Nathalia Rodrigues da Costa

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas
• Defense date: 2022-09-21

Examining board members

Yara Adario Frateschi; André de Macedo Duarte; Igor Vinícius Basílio Nunes; Rodrigo Ribeiro Alves Neto; Bethânia de Albuquerque Assy

• Advisor: Yara Adario Frateschi

Abstract

The theme of mass society is a perennial theme in Hannah Arendt's works. It is originally linked to the totalitarian phenomenon, but it gained a dignity of its own - extrapolating its original role as a crucial element for the understanding of totalitarianism - from the 1960s. At this time Arendt evaluates that we live in the post-World War II non-totalitarian modern world marked by a political context of mass liberal representative democracies. In this thesis I seek to unlink the theme of mass society from the totalitarian phenomenon - without denying the imbrication of both - to think about the contemporary relevance of the theme. One of these relevance lies in the permanence of certain conditions of mass society such as isolation, conformism, political apathy, etc, in this new political context. These conditions contribute to the deepening of an apolitical and even anti-political context and constitute barriers to the construction of a more democratic society. This research shows that the political phenomenon of mass society crystallizes itself as a reflection of the modern political experience, highlighting Arendt's effort to understand how the political developments of modernity inform politics in the modern world. In this sense, the gradual construction of the mentality of the masses stands out - a more complete feature of the modern mentality. The mass mentality is markedly individualistic, private, self-interested, alienated from the common world, and averse to difference; it is an apolitical mentality with anti-political traits. Thus, another relevance of the theme is to enable us to critically think about the influence of the characteristics of the mentality of a mass society in the political field. In this thesis I support the following interpretations: first, Arendt presents us with a mass political approach, in opposition to the sociological and psychological approaches of the 19th century. The second interpretation is that Arendt continues to be concerned with the theme of mass society, even outside the totalitarian context, because there is an agency of the masses of political relevance to the common world. This agency resides precisely in the absence of political action (understood in the strict terms of Arendt's conceptual framework) of the masses. This research is still concerned with thinking about part of the critical debate about Arendt's category of political action considering the problems imposed on politics by the consolidation of mass society. In this sense, the position presented in this thesis is that the Arendtian political action category is better understood, and it becomes more fruitful for thinking about the political problem of the masses when it is thought outside of the interpretation via action models. Finally, since the theme of mass society presents itself as a problem of political relevance for the author, the last move of this thesis is to show how Arendt envisions the possibility of confronting the mentality of the masses and the conditions of mass society, turning both to philosophical resources and to the political experiences of modernity itself (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 18/00645-5 - The limits and possibilities of political action in mass society
• Grantee: Nathalia Rodrigues da Costa
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate