In this work, Ortega traces the genesis of the "mass-man" and analyzes his constitution, en route to describing the rise to power and action of the masses in society.
He does not, however, refer to specific social classes, as has been so commonly misunderstood in the English-speaking world.
Ortega's summary of what he attempted in the book exemplifies this quite well, while simultaneously providing the author's own views on his work: "In this essay an attempt has been made to sketch a certain type of European, mainly by analyzing his behaviour as regards the very civilization into which he was born".
This had to be done because that individual "does not represent a new civilisation struggling with a previous one, but a mere negation ..." As they say in the United States: "to be different is to be indecent."
Here we have the formidable fact of our times, described without any concealment of the brutality of its features.The Fascist and Syndicalist species were characterized by the first appearance of a type of man who "did not care to give reasons or even to be right", but who was simply resolved to impose his opinions.