Tocqueville and democracy
Date Submitted: 08/06/2001 11:41:54
Category: / Social Sciences / Sociology
Length: 27 pages (7455 words)
Category: / Social Sciences / Sociology
Length: 27 pages (7455 words)
Tocqueville is best known for "Democracy in America" (1835-40), which was a perceptive analysis of the U.S. political and social system in the early 19th century. Tocqueville's study analysed the vitality, the excesses and the potential future of American democracy. Tocqueville focused on his of the 'tyranny of majority' as he began his description of American democratic practices; it is also perhaps the best-known concept of democratic despotism Tocqueville introduced in his work (Schleifer, 1980; …
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…democracy but he also gave guidelines to democratic society in general. Tyranny of majority focuses on the shunning of individuals/ minorities and enforcement of conformity. Equality plays a big part in the 'tyranny' as it leads to contentment and lowering of expectations of an individual. But to every problem there is a solution and Tocqueville felt that America had formed effective mechanisms such as administrative decentralisation, association and religion to mitigate 'tyranny of majority.'
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