Lippmann–Ortega: On the role of elites in a democracy | Intellect Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics
  4. Volume 18, Issue 2
  5. Article
Walter Lippmann’s Public Opinion at 100
  • ISSN: 1740-8296
  • E-ISSN: 2040-0918

Abstract

The aim of this article is to contrast the understanding of elites by José Ortega y Gasset and Walter Lippmann. Although they both agreed in not seeing a conflict between elitism and democracy, they differed in three aspects. First, while for Lippmann the elites are the insiders, those who have privileged access to political information, for Ortega the elites are a phenomenon that has more to do with the moral and the psychological (those ‘egregious men’ who make an effort, who do not get carried away) and are not limited to the political sphere, but include other fields, such as culture or the arts. Second, they also differ in their conception of public opinion: whereas for Lippmann public opinion is the images that outsiders form from the stereotypes created by insiders, for Ortega public opinion is that which is held by everyone and by no one in particular, the well-known, the taken-for-granted. The third difference refers to the relationship between insiders and outsiders: while Lippmann fears the separation between pundits and the passive mass audience, the relationship between Ortega’s ‘egregious men’ and the ‘mass-men’ must be dynamic: the first must lead well, by example, the second must let themselves be guided.

© 2022 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/macp_00065_1
2023-05-16
2024-04-26
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Díaz Álvarez, J. M.. ( 2013;), ‘ Cuestión de libertad. Ética y filosofía política. ’, in J. Z. Bonilla. (ed.), Guía Comares de Ortega y Gasset, Granada:: Comares;, pp. 251–86.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Foucault, M.. ( [1979] 2007), Nacimiento de la biopolítica, Buenos Aires:: Fondo de Cultura Económica;.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. González Galán, F.. ( 2021), La recepción de José Ortega y Gasset en España, Madrid:: Verbum;.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Huxley, A.. ( 1932), Brave New World, London:: Chatto & Windus;.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. James, W.. ( 1907), Pragmatism, a New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking, London:, Bombay and Calcutta:: Longmans, Green, and Co;.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Lasaga Medina, J.. ( 2017;), ‘ El liberalismo itinerante de Ortega y Gasset. ’, in J. L. Medina, and A. L. Vega. (eds), Ortega y Marañón ante la crisis del liberalismo, Madrid:: Cinca-Fundación José Ortega y Gasset-Gregorio Marañón;, pp. 15–78.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Lasch, C.. ( 1996), The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy, New York:: W. W. Norton & Company;.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Laval, C., and Dardot, P.. ( 2013), La nueva razón del mundo. Ensayo sobre la sociedad neoliberal, Barcelona:: Gedisa;.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Lewis, S.. ( [1935] 2014), It Can’t Happen Here, New York:: Penguin;.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Lippmann, W.. ( 1922), Public Opinion, New York:: Harcourt, Brace & Company;.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Lippmann, W.. ( 1938a), An Inquiry into the Principles of the Good Society, Boston, MA:: Little, Brown & Company;.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Lippmann, W.. ( 1938b), La cité libre, Paris:: Librairie de Médicis;.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Lippmann, W.. ( [1938] 1940), Retorno a la libertad, México:: Unión Tipográfica Editorial Hispano-Americana;.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Lippmann, W.. ( 1955), Essays in the Public Philosophy, Boston, MA and Toronto:: Little, Brown and Company;.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Lippmann, W.. ( [1925] 1993), The Phantom Public, New Brunswick, NJ and London:: Transaction Publishers;.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Medin, T.. ( 2014), Entre la veneración y el olvido: la recepción de Ortega y Gasset en España I. 1908–1936, Madrid:: Biblioteca Nueva-Fundación José Ortega y Gasset-Gregorio Marañón;.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Moreno Pestaña, J. L.. ( 2013), La norma de la filosofía. La configuración del patrón filosófico español tras la Guerra Civil, Madrid:: Biblioteca Nueva;.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Ortega y Gasset, J.. ( 2004–10), Obras Completas, 10 vols, Madrid:: Taurus-Fundación José Ortega y Gasset;.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Ortega y Gasset, J.. ( 1957), The Revolt of the Masses, New York:: W. W. Norton & Company;.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Orwell, G.. ( 1949), Nineteen Eighty-Four, London:: Secker & Warburg;.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Rodó, J. E.. ( [1900] 2009), Ariel, Madrid:: Cátedra;.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Steel, R.. ( 1980), Walter Lippmann and the American Century, Boston, MA and Toronto:: Little, Brown & Company;.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Tocqueville, A. De. ( [1835–40] 2018), La democracia en América, Madrid:: Trotta;.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Simón, Rodolfo Gutiérrez. ( 2022;), ‘ Lippmann–Ortega: On the role of elites in a democracy. ’, International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, Special Issue: ‘Walter Lippmann’s Public Opinion at 100’, 18:2&3, pp. 161–70, https://doi.org/10.1386/macp_00065_1
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/macp_00065_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): democracy; elites; homogeneization; political psychology; politics; public opinion

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error