An examination of the relationship between Hegel's concept of "alienation" and Ortega's concept of the "masses"

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between Hegel's concept of "alienation" from a community and Ortega's concept of the "masses" in order to explore the empirical implication of the former concept in our society. According to philosophical discussion, it is supposed that Hegel's concept of "alienation" has a positive relationship with Ortega's concept of "Masses." This hypothesis was tested in the survey with a questionnaire (n = 400), by examining the relationship between the alienation scale and the vulgarity scale which were developed based on Hegel's theory of alienation and Ortega's theory of the masses, respectively. The obtained data showed that the sense of alienation from four communities (family, region, organization, and state) was positively related with the autistic factor which constituted the vulgarity scale. The result implied that the two concepts are associated with each other. It also provided the evidence of validity of the alienation scale. Finally, implications of the present result were discussed.