著者

三上 俊治

出版者

日本マス・コミュニケーション学会

雑誌

新聞学評論 (ISSN:04886550)

巻号頁・発行日

no.35, pp.74-91, 292-291, 1986-04-30

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The theory of mass society was born in the nineteenth century in Europe and developed as a critical theory on modern industrialized society from a macroscopic viewpoint. The historical development of the theory can be devided into the following six phases : (1) "aristocratic" theories in the nineteenth century, (2) "democratic" criticism towards the totalitarian state in Germany and Italy after World War I, (3) critical theories on post World War II American society, (4) theoretical debate on the nature of "Mass Society" in 1950's Japan, (5) decline of the "Mass Society" theory and the rise of other new theories such as theories of the Post-Industrial Society, and (6) revival of the theories of "Mass Society" in 1980's Japan. Recent discussions on "Mass Society" can be viewed from two approaches. One is the theory of "the new middle mass" by Y.Murakami, and the other is the theory on "consumption culture" asserted by marketing practioners. According to Murakami, social class or stratification has become unstructured and the value system has changed drastically along with the rapid economic growth in the 1960's. This has resulted in the dominance of a "new middle mass" whose political attitude is generally conservative. Murakami's discussion neglects the manipulative aspect of media use and as a result shows a conservative bias. Proponents of the consumption culture approach focus on the rise of a new generation which prefers sensitivity to reason and tends to express themselves through differentiated lifestyles, resulting in diverse consuming behavior. Their discussion pays little attention to the negative aspects of consumption culture. Although these new "mass society" theories overestimate the structural change in contemporary matured mass society and underestimate the influence of mass media, we should learn much from them, because they might provide the basis for constructing the macroscopic structural model which explains the impact of media upon individuals and society.