“Mass culture” of the twentieth century in the concepts of J. Ortega y Gasset, R. Barth, J. Baudrillard
The article discusses the definition and position of mass society and mass culture of the midtwentieth century through the prism of the most famous philosophical and cultural theories. The forecasts regarding the development of mass culture, similarities and differences of opinion in relation to the phenomenon under consideration are analyzed. The concept of mass and the analysis of the essence of the dehumanization of art, first introduced into scientific circulation in the work of H. Ortega y Gasset, are highlighted, a systematic analysis of social processes in the work of J. Baudrillard “Consumer Society” is analyzed, a peculiar analysis of modern mass culture as a sign system is considered in the theory of R. Barthes. The conclusions obtained as a result allow us to assert that in order to understand the full picture of the state of post-industrial society, it is necessary to consider the history of mass culture from philosophical-ontological and mythological theories. At the stage of active development, mass culture was characterized by philosophers both from a negative point of view, foreshadowing the decline of European society and a humanitarian catastrophe, and from a positive and neutral point of view, where mass culture does not have catastrophic consequences for the formation of society, but is natural phenomenon in the conditions of development of modern civilization. The concepts of these philosophers had a huge impact on the entire research practice of social mass phenomena.