In this book a group of authors reviews a variety of theories devoted to the study of masses. The first chapter deals with ancient understandings of the masses in classical Greek and Roman sources, in the works of 19th century French conservatives such as De Maistre and De Bonald, as well as in the work of Italian elite theorists Pareto and Mosca. The second chapter looks at the treatment of the masses in the works of Karl Marx, Karl Mannheim, Jose Ortega y Gasset, the German phenomenological school and Georges Gurvitch. In the third and final chapter an insight is provided into theories of the masses which emerged after World War II, especially to the works of C. Wright Mills and Raymond Aron, as well as to the contributions of Yugoslav writers.
