Why did Alexis de Tocqueville believe equality was important to modern society?

Alexis de Tocqueville did not view equality as a choice to be accepted or rejected, but rather as an inevitable historical force that modern society could not prevent. Consequently, he believed the central challenge for modern society was not to stop the trend toward equality, but to determine whether this principle would lead to "servitude or freedom, to knowledge or barbarism, to prosperity or wretchedness".12

For Tocqueville, the importance of equality lay in its potential to shape the future of human dignity and liberty. He feared that without proper guidance, equality could result in a "mild, stagnant despotism" or a society characterized by "uniform mediocrity". To prevent this, he argued that it was essential to "educate democracy" and organize society in a way that preserved liberty within a democratic social order. By fostering dignity, good sense, and creative ideas, he believed that democratic societies could avoid the dangers of centralized power and maintain the standards of civilization.13