ABSTRACT
Thearistocratic critique of mass society yields the idea of accessible elites, and the democratic critique yields the idea of available non-elites. Mass society requires both accessible elites and available non-elites if it is to exhibit a high rate of mass behavior. Elites are accessible and non-elites are available in that there is a paucity of independent groups between the state and the family to protect either elites or non-elites from manipulation and mobilization by the other. In pluralist society, mass behavior also is located in peripheral areas, but the rate is higher because there are more remote symbols clamoring for attention. Inaccessible elites prevent a high rate of mass behavior and mass movements even where, as in the Soviet Union, for example, the population is highly atomized. People are available for mass behavior when they lack attachments to proximate objects.
