Article: The Non- and Anti-Democratic in Post-Modernity

Masahiro Hamashita, "The Non- and Anti-Democratic in Post-Modernity" ("Diogenes", 55 [4], November 2008: pp. 27-31):

http://dio.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/55/4/27

Abstract: "Is, or has, democracy a universal value? This is the main question raised by this paper, which distinguishes between two aspects of democracy: political institution in opposition to despotism, and political belief against any kind of slavery and subordination. The role played by intellectuals in the development of contemporary democracy, and the relation of democracy to mass culture and the influence of mass media on a true democratic attitude, are studied within the frame of an overall 'mass aesthetization' which characterizes contemporary societies."

An article I could, unfortunately, not access.

Masahiro Hamashita is Professor of Aesthetics in the Department of Intercultural Studies at Kobe College, Nishinomiya City, Japan.