Alexis de Tocqueville - Democracy in America | Political Philosophy

alexis de tocqueville was a french politician in historian who witnessed the upheavals of the spread of democracy and equality he's most famous for his text democracy in America written following extensive travels for a study of America's penal system he admired the American political system but saw that advances in democracy had brought with it several dangers that needed to be addressed the inevitable spread of equality had created an atomized society where citizens were at risk from the tyranny of the majority and a stifling social conformism he thought that democracy posed a potential threat to individual rights he argued that it should be tempered by protection of liberty and the creation of civic associations that could better integrate individuals into the fabric of modern society de Tocqueville's text democracy in America diagnoses these issues and informs us how the worst excesses of a tyranny of the majority might be avoided I'm James Muldoon I'm a lecturer in political science at the University of Exeter and this is an introduction to Tocqueville's democracy in America de Tocqueville's life alexis de tocqueville was born on 29th of July 1805 into an old Norman aristocratic family his parents had been imprisoned during the French Revolution and had narrowly survived the reign of terror he attended the elesif Abell in Metz and then went on to study law in Paris he was appointed as a magistrate in Versailles and met his future wife Mary motley and befriended a fellow lawyer Gustave de Beaumont in 1830 Louis Philippe became King and Tocqueville's career ambitions were temporarily halted he decided to take an assignment to study the American penal system and set sail for Rhode Island with his friend Gustavo Dudamel in April of 1831 after travelling across America for nine months de Tocqueville produced his two-volume masterpiece democracy in America which was published in 1835 Americans appreciate the text because as a foreigner de Tocqueville was seen as an insightful observer of American life they also liked it because he said nice things about them de Tocqueville also travelled to England Island and Algeria and produced travel Diaries of each journey his Algerian travel diary criticized the French method of colonialism virus simulation and preferred the British model of indirect rule he believed that colonialism was unlikely to bring about good government in the colonies but supported it on account of the benefited brought to France he subordinated moral considerations about the negative effects of colonialism to the pragmatic concerns of defending the French national interest unlike John Stuart Mill de Tocqueville was under no apprehension that the French were civilizing the local population he nevertheless defended ruthless tactics as a necessary part of war and colonization in 1839 as the second volume of democracy in America was about to be published de Tocqueville return to public life and began serving as the deputy in the French Assembly after the Revolution of 1848 he was elected a member of the Constituent Assembly here he became a member of the Commission that drafted the new constitution of the Second Republic during the Second Republic de Tocqueville supported the party of order against the Socialists and believed that suppression was necessary to return law in order during his time he also supported laws restricting political freedoms such as liberty of the clubs and the freedom of the press against the threat posed by the Socialists who wanted to create a social Republic de Tocqueville saw a return to order as a first step in the creation of a free and stable Republic he also served briefly as foreign minister but resigned following the coup of lui Napoleon he gathered with others to protest Napoleon's violation of the constitutional limits of his term of office but was detained briefly and then later released he retired from politics and returned to his chateau in Normandy at this point he began to write his second famous book the old regime in the French Revolution in this work de Tocqueville argued that many of the most important transformations of French society took place in the century preceding the French Revolution rather than in 1789 the revolution merely continued the long process of modernizing and centralizing the French state the erosion of aristocratic values through the development of the idea of equality had already been occurring throughout the 18th century the revolution was simply the most visible aspect of this long term shift he died on 16th of April 1859 from tuberculosis and was buried in the Tocqueville Cemetery in Normandy democracy and the equality of conditions de Tocqueville opened democracy in America with the following remark a general equality of conditions among people in America seemed to animate all aspects of their government and society he believed that equality was the most transformative idea of his era and he thought that the United States was the most advanced country of this inevitable march of equality this change had occurred over many decades with a slow erosion of aristocratic values and the creation of a new bourgeois Order de Tocqueville's political thought was a response to the possibilities and dangers inherent in the rise of equality and social rank values and wealth he thought that the democratic revolution was inevitable and though we should therefore prepare for so that we could maximize its benefits and minimize its dangers he looked on with admiration at the growth of equality of opportunity and the removal of barriers to social mobility that had been imposed by the aristocratic societies but he also thought that this erosion of hierarchies and social ties created an atomized society where individuals felt alienated and filled this void through a pursuit of material wealth he saw two main dangers in this growth of democracy the first was the centralization of state power and a destruction of the intermediary institutions that used to stand between the monarch and the individual the elimination of the nobility church institutions and clubs and associations rendered government power more immediate and more oppressive this would be even more so the case for democratic governments ruled by the will of the majority because there would be nothing left to resist them a growing individualism would lead people to sacrifice their rights to their tranquility and become apathetic and complicit in the growth of the power of the state the second main threat was that an equality of conditions would lead to a leveling of ambitions thought and distinction he feared inequality of conditions would lead to a creeping conformism that would leave individuals unable to resist oppressive social norms of mass society the challenge was how to combine equality with a robust defense of Liberty and with institutions that could guarantee social cohesion and individual freedom liberty and the tyranny of the majority de Tocqueville saw democracy as an irresistable social force that would spread across the world what he was less sure about was whether Liberty would survive in these new democratic societies he thought there was a tension between democracy understood as rule of the majority and individual rights his goal was to uncover the appropriate balance and equilibrium between equality and freedom he disagreed with Russo that the general will would always stay within the bounds of justice and reason in a political system where absolute power was exercised by legislative majority then the fear was not of the tyranny of a despot but the tyranny of the majority such a legal despotism as he called it could be exercised against a minority group simply by creating laws against them the problem Democratic government was that by itself had granted few safeguards against tyranny there were also relatively few checks on civil servants which left much room for potential abuses at lower levels of decision-making he thought that American administrative functionaries exercised far more power than their European equivalents and that they were far more empowered to exercise arbitrary Authority such abuses could prove fatal to the survival of a regime as minority groups would be forced to defend themselves which could lead to civil war he also criticized the instability and fluctuating nature of representative government with frequent elections the legislature would be constantly turned over and responding to the ever-changing wishes of the masses the irony was that once the public had made up its mind it was irresistible even though it frequently changed directions de Tocqueville believe that such instability threatened political regimes and he therefore favoured infrequent elections and disapproved of the use of referendums conformity of opinions one of the novel aspects of de Tocqueville's analysis was his identification of the dangers of cultural and social forces while he thought an increasingly powerful and centralized state could be the origins of a tyranny of the majority he also saw how a more diffused network of social relations could enforce a conformism of opinion do top you'll believe that an equality of conditions also brought about social homogeneity and a stigmatization of those with different opinions this led him to declare that freedom of opinion didn't actually exist in America he thought the people who expressed different opinions were made to feel like strangers amongst their own people democracies had ways to silence opponents of the a majority through oppressive social norms that made people resort to self-censorship if they believed something controversial this was a new form of power that was more impressive than anything available to a European absolute monarch no single monarch had the power to combine all authority in their hands and to stifle any opposition opinion but the power that a majority could exercise over public opinion could be far more earthling and a danger to individual thought and political discussion combating the effects of individualism in modern math society individuals were more separated from each other and faced increasing social and political dangers this condition made it easier to manipulate the masses as people would detach from one another and indifferent about abuses of government de Tocqueville proposed that the negative effects of individualism could be combated with a series of civic and political associations that would create a vibrant public sphere and integrate people into intermediary institutions between the individual and the state this was based on a doctrine of what de Tocqueville called self-interest rightly understood by this he meant that citizens in America were more likely to see that they would benefit themselves by serving their fellow citizens and joining with them in common enterprises a general love of forming various public groups animated the American spirit and led to a vast number of civil and political associations this habit of civic virtue and public spiritedness led Americans towards virtuous action through restraining their egoism and directing their energies towards the public good he was shocked by the sheer number of civil associations that were thriving in America and the many reasons for which Americans found to join together with others he thought that the unparalleled freedom of political association enjoyed by Americans strengthened and encouraged their civil associations due Tocqueville's analysis placed him in a civic Republican tradition which believed in the importance of participation in civic associations and self-government he also saw the preservation of religious belief is an important aspect of combating the effects of individualism he thought that organized religion was a counterweight to the growing individualism and materialism of democratic societies religion brought people together and directed them away from a search for material wealth which he saw as predominating in American society individuals in America had a tendency to sacrifice their political liberties and their public duties for economic prosperity religion toward people that material wealth was not the most important thing in life and that they should focus on more lofty goals rather than pushing religion out of the public sphere de Tocqueville thought that it provided an important stabilizing and socializing function in public life soft despotism in the final book of democracy in America to talk the wand of the possible emergence of a new form of despotism that would be possible in democratic societies on account of individualism the centralized state and social homogeneity this new despotism he warned would be more pervasive but more mild it would be a despotism of benevolent Guardians rather than tyrants rulers who would happily take more and more power as individuals became more passive and enthralled with their private lives he feared that the effects of inequality of conditions would lead to a tighter and more totalizing control over individual lives future governments could exercise enormous amounts of administrative power that would lead to a new paternalism and provide the individuals needs but keep them in a state of perpetual childhood in such a soft despotism the people would become like a flock of timid and industrious animals with the government acting as their Shepherd although in a democratic society this would be combined with the freedom of choice it would be merely the appearance of freedom in which individuals would do little more than choose their own Guardians to rule them many readers have seen this diagnosis by de Tocqueville is a prescient warning of the large administrative states of the 20th century and the social power exercised by large corporations over social life the growth of an equality of conditions provided certain benefits but it also threatened liberty and potentially the very foundations of free government America for de Tocqueville expressed the most developed stages of this movement which he hope to warn people about in his native Europe the antidotes to this growing individualism were robust civic education into metre institutions and organized religion it was only through these institutions that the correct equilibrium between freedom and equality could be maintained you

Channel: Political Philosophy

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Keywords: Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, liberalism, America, political philosophy, philosophy, sociology

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Length: 14min 26sec (866 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 14 2019